Illusion
by NayanRoo
Summary: A world of illusions greets us every day. On trial for his crimes against Konoha, Uchiha Sasuke begins a trip through his memories and how he came to this point in time. OroSasu.
1. Prologue

**Illusion**

Author: **NayanRoo**

Prologue

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

They sat together in a room lit with filtering sunlight. His kimono was a beautiful sapphire blue, custom-tailored to fit and made of the most expensive, softest silk. Why wouldn't he be wearing such a fine garment? His lover was one of the sannin, the jutsu-fiend, traitor-redeemed. One mission that he completed gave them enough to put some away in savings and still spend lavishly. This kimono was from one of those after-mission flushes of money, he was sure of it.

His lover sat next to him. Orochimaru's kimono was of the same stuff, except his was a royal purple color, embroidered in such a way that made it appear the kimono was made out of purple snakeskin. Doubtless, had he not been so opposed to harming snakes, the sannin would have a kimono made of snakeskin—it would have been fitting, Sasuke thought. Their hands were clasped gently, warmly between them; a pot of water for tea bubbled on a brazier nearby. Orochimaru always preferred real tea leaves as opposed to bags of any sort; he claimed the leaves held a better flavor.

"We can't stay here much longer," Orochimaru said in that soft but commanding way of his. It never held anything good; all his proclamations of love were said in a softer, kinder—if there had been a shape to it, Sasuke would have said _rounder_ tone. "Our time is nearly at an end, little bird."

"I know," Sasuke replied. He looked over at Orochimaru and squeezed the elder's hand. "I know we're leaving soon."

"You know what you must do."

"I know."

"Would you like some tea?" the snake-sannin asked politely. "It's just about to boil, I think, and you don't like it when it's that hot." Sure enough, the teapot started whistling, and quickly Orochimaru picked it up off the brazier and poured the hot water into two teacups, offering the first one to Sasuke. He took it with a word of thanks and let the leaves steep for a few moments as he always had. Orochimaru took a sip of his tea and sighed. "It is good."

"Why don't we have more time?"

"It is what was decided."

"But I don't understand."

Orochimaru waved his hand at—everything, the world, this room, their clothes, the tea. "It is all _iluzi_," he said in that same voice. "Illusion."

"Genjutsu—"

"Not a jutsu."

"What then?"

Orochimaru turned to him with a little half-smirk of amusement playing about his lips and kissed him. As they had a thousand times before, Sasuke had been on the verge of asking something else, and his mouth yielded to the sannin's. Lips not full, but not too thin either. Just _right_, in all ways. "You ask too many questions. You're like me when I was young."

"But what is—"

"Shh, little bird. Now sleep."

Orochimaru's hand lay heavy over his eyes, and Sasuke felt a spinning in the back of his head, and then all was blacker than black and he was vanished.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Please state your full name, age, rank and registration number for the recorder."

"Uchiha Sasuke. Nineteen years old, genin, missing-nin. Registration number oh-one-two-six-oh-six."

"Thank you. Uchiha Sasuke, you are charged with high treason against Konohagakure on the following counts: aiding and abetting an enemy of Konohagakure; aiding and abetting a S-class criminal; the murder of seventy-four nins belonging to the villages of Sunagakure, Konohagakure, Kumogakure, Takigakure and Amegakure; providing confidential information concerning Konohagakure to an enemy; espionage; conduct unbecoming of a shinobi; possession of jutsu forbidden by the laws of the village and the laws of shinobi; and defection from Konohagakure."

The Elders of Konohagakure sat above him; one level above that, Tsunade and the other Kages. Thirteen pairs of eyes bored into the Uchiha heir.

"You will be asked a series of questions regarding these charges; answer honestly and completely, and when we deem our questioning complete we will pronounce our verdict."

He could feel the eyes of his former teammates and teacher on his back, and he didn't care. They had heard his testimony before, they had the records of his interrogations from Ibiki; they had their own actions on record. They knew the story; they could see clearly in their world. But all around them was _iluzi._

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

The first time they had seen each other, there had been a spark of hatred in one eye and a spark of interest in the other. As it would happen, those sparks flew together, struck from the same flint, and grew into a great, roaring fire. Any union between them would be forbidden by religion, society and the laws that had once governed their lives. But love—be it true, forced, or a mutual need between two people—will not be denied when it has found fuel to burn. And if those in charge of the fire are attentive, the fire will burn forever.

Like a flickering spell, the flames leapt up high, consuming all those who stood in their way. Eventually, though, it consumed them too.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

* * *

Reviews always loved. Strange idea from a strange mind.


	2. Chapter 1

Illusions

Author: NayanRoo

Chapter I

**Negative Gemini:** Thank you for reviewing. It ain't over yet. :D

_Italics: thoughts_

(Parenthesis: memory)

Brackets: cut to present time

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

_Just as, in this body, the Self_

_Passes through childhood, youth,_

_And old age, so after death_

_It passes to another body._

_-Bhagavad Gita, 2: 13_

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Konoha; Four Weeks After Capture, Six Weeks Before Trial

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

_Iluzi…illusion…Oro…_

"Wake up, Uchiha."

_Go away…he's got something more to tell me, I know it…_

"Uchiha, get up, or do we force you?"

Sasuke cracked open his eyes unwillingly. Every part of his body felt like it was bruised or bloody somehow; his mouth felt dry, his tongue swollen. One of his eyes was closed from the bruising. It took all his energy to boost himself up into a half-sitting position on the thin mattress in his cell and stare, blearily, at the scarred man outside the bars.

"Ibiki? I've already told everyone what I know."

"Interrogations for the sake of information are over. We are going to collect your testimony. Get up."

Slowly, the Uchiha heir rose off the bed, using the edge to brace himself on. Taking an experimental step, he slowly advanced down the length of the bed, and when his legs didn't collapse from his full weight, he walked stiffly out of the cell, head held high and proud. He was chakra-exhausted, battered, and bound hand and foot, and still he managed an arrogant look.

_An Uchiha to the end, _Ibiki thought sadly. _Always proud and haughty, even when they know they're going to die._

_I must make him proud of me,_ Sasuke thought. _I am better than submitting in the manner of a prisoner. He made me better. I do not have to bow my head to anyone._

With Ibiki in front of him and two ANBU behind, Sasuke was led down the passage between cells. Some contained Sound nins caught in the war; some held criminals from Konoha or surrounding villages. He didn't see anyone he cared to enquire about, and he certainly didn't see the reason he was here right now.

"Where is—"

"Quiet. That's not for you to know."

They left the cells behind and turned into a corridor of many doors. All were closed; some were dark, some were lit. Sasuke was escorted into one of these rooms. The walls were a flat white color, and the room was furnished only with a table and two chairs; Sasuke was seated in one of these and secured to it. His back was to what he knew was a two-way mirror. Behind it was probably the Hokage and her attendant, and possibly his old teammates. He didn't have enough chakra to discern their signatures for certain, and even if he had the available chakra, he wouldn't have had the drive to. It simply wasn't worth it to him anymore. Every torment they applied to his body hadn't gotten more than the information they wanted out of him; he hadn't broken yet. He hadn't become as a rag doll because he was a flame-hardened sculpture, delicate but strong. By not caring, but not showing that he cared, he gave them no fuel to for breaking him.

_(You'll be captured—Sasuke, stay back!_

_I won't stand by and let them take you alone just because of your past! We're a team!_

…_very w—!!)_

"Uchiha, stop daydreaming."

"I apologize."

"You are here to tell us, from the beginning, why you and Orochimaru returned to Konoha after being marked as missing-nins, why the both of you asked for quarter…what your moti- oh, fuck it, what the hell your motive was. Why? And why the attack?"

"I told you about the attack already. It _wasn't us-"_

"Your credibility isn't that high with us right now," Ibiki snarled. "Frankly, I think the both of you should have died the moment you returned to Konoha, miserable traitors that you are."

Sasuke smiled. "You're not very good at maintaining neutrality. If I'm to tell you or motives for anything, you'll have to keep an open mind. It's a pretty damn unbelievable tale even when you're preaching to the choir, and you, Ibiki, are hardly the choir."

"We just want answers, Uchiha. You were a brilliant student—you had a team that rivaled the sannin, one of which you were caught sleeping with, by the way—"

"I gave you—"

"We want the truth of the matter."

Sasuke smirked. "I already know the truth; repeating it is useless."

Ibiki slapped him across the face, producing a horrific throb in Sasuke's head. The young man spat blood. "Don't toy with us, Uchiha," the interrogator spat. "We know everything of value to you."

Sasuke sighed, giving in. "I'll tell you, fine," he said. "I'll have to go back some time before we came back here, though. At least three years prior, perhaps more."

"Fine. Just tell us."

"You're recording this, correct? I don't want to have to tell this more than once." A look of deep pain crossed his face. "It will be hard enough to tell it once as is."

"Of course we're recording. Get on with it."

"I'm going to need my hands, however, and water. It's a long, long story."

"We'll have it brought. Your hands will be unlocked when you need them."

"Fine." The last survivor of the Uchiha clan settled as comfortably into the chair as he could, swallowed, and began his story. "I was fifteen."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Sound: Four Years Ago; Three Years Prior to Return

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

It all began three years ago; he could even name the day. It had been a beautiful, lovely day in the last flings of summer. The leaves were turning all colors of red and orange; Harvest was upon the Land of Sound and Rice. His teacher had worn a kimono appropriate to the season, red and cream stark against skin paler than alabaster. For his complexion, the women of the nobility would have killed, but for the Snake it was natural.

He and his youngest, brightest student had walked through the village that day, giving their duty to the villagers. The Uchiha—fifteen, young, strong, beautiful—and the Snake, old, powerful, and great and terrible to behold, walking hand in hand as they did in a way that never seemed to hold any affection beyond a student-teacher bond, but at the same time seemed to be the most affectionate thing in the world. Sometimes—often—on these walks, Sasuke would look at wares on sale in the street booths, or walk into a store to more closely examine their goods, and Orochimaru would buy him a small gift, golden eyes full of that vague amused look they always held.

This time they simply strolled through the market. Sasuke did not stop, and Orochimaru did not offer to buy something with a laughing smirk. Neither spoke; both knew. They returned to their horses, and on the way back to the stronghold, Sasuke broke the silence.

"It'll be tonight, won't it."

No response but the creaking of their saddles as the horses cantered through the forest. There was no trail so no invading ninja could find their way to the leader's abode (provided he was there in the first place), and the forest was silent. No response from his teacher either, and his mentor's silence annoyed the student.

"Well, is it?" he pressed.

"Yes." The word hung between them like a string. Sasuke's mind worked, and the string pulled taut.

_We'll defeat Itachi._

_I'll be his body; I will lose myself._

_He'll kill Itachi in my body._

_I'm just a tool._

_Itachi will be dead, and my hand will be the one guiding the killing blow._

"Then we should hurry."

A pause. Then: "Perhaps we should."

"I fail to see how any of this is important, Uchiha," Ibiki protested.

'Without knowing this, nothing else makes any sense at all, Ibiki," Sasuke replied. "You have probably found out from the documents you captured that Orochimaru's soul eventually corrodes the host body, correct?"

"Yes, and he has to continually find another body. I was supposed to be that body. This you know."

"Yes, that confused us quite a bit. So why are you here today?"

"That's what this part of the story is about."

Sasuke bathed especially carefully that night. It was three years ago to the day that he arrived in Sound. Despite what he knew would happen, he was excited, and his hands trembled as he scrubbed all traces of dirt from his body, cleaning between each toe and washing his hair twice. It had grown heavier and thicker here, but the weight couldn't make it lay down flat except when wet. Kabuto often joked—with a much more malicious intent—that Sasuke looked like a drowned weasel when his hair was wet. The prodigy had learned to control himself and even felt a little proud of not reacting to Kabuto's barbs; the medic was protective of his master, and Sasuke's training had often pushed Orochimaru's current host body beyond its capability, especially of late.

Leaving the bathroom wrapped in a towel, he saw someone had come in and laid out a plain cotton robe and sash on his bed. It was like what he slept in, loose and comfortable. Functional, like everything else used in the compound unless there was some sort of gathering going on. But those were usually held elsewhere, and Sasuke was dressed in fine kimono and treated like a porcelain doll. He sat at his master's knee or on his right hand, eating what was put in front of him and not speaking without permission from Orochimaru. It grated on his nerves, but it was what he was instructed to do. He realized the lessons to be learned from these times, and took them to heart. Patience, calm collection under pressure, concentration—all these he would use in the fight to come.

He dressed and put out his hand to open the door when it slid open. Kabuto waited outside, looking antsy. It was rare to see the silver-haired nin without his usual indifference—there were no doubts any longer. Today was the day he had trained three years for, the day he had endured countless humiliations and violations and inhumane stretches of no sleep, no food, no rest of any kind just to master _one_ jutsu or _one _kata his master had deemed necessary. It was the last day ticked off on the calendar.

Kabuto led him away from the places of the compound he usually frequented and toward the labs. Sasuke had only been here to have tests run on his body to measure its development. Samples of blood, sweat, saliva, semen, bile, everything had been taken from him and put under the rare and delicate microscope that was the pride of the lab. Orochimaru had obtained it at great cost somewhere; it was a relic of a time gone by and a race long dead. The labs were full of cold, sterile things and reeked of synthesis and alchemy. Sasuke did not like the labs.

Kabuto gestured to an innocuous-looking door that could have been at home anywhere in the stronghold. "It was a pleasure working with you, Sasuke-_sama_."

"Whatever, Kabuto."

The spy pushed his glasses up and opened the door for Sasuke. "Orochimaru-sama will only be a moment."

Sasuke walked in. The door was shut.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Orochimaru-sama, he's in. Whenever you like; the monitoring equipment is ready."

When his master's reply came, it sounded distant and quiet. Puzzled, Kabuto fiddled with the feedback knobs before he realized they were normalized. Looking at the screen, he saw his master still sitting in the antechamber, deep in thought.

"The jutsu only needs a minimum of three years…it can be stretched to four…correct?"

"Yes, but Orochimaru-sama, your body—"

"It can handle it. I'll need your skills."

"Orochimaru-sama, I think this is a bad idea. Sasuke-sama is ready to make the transfer, and your body won't last another year."

"You are certain?" The sannin's voice had that distant quality to it again.

"I'm positive. All the results of the tests we ran say that full degeneration of tissues should begin within half a year, and after that it won't matter whether or not the minimum time is three years. You'll need to change bodies. Orochimaru-sama, what are you thinking?"

On the monitor, Orochimaru stood. "Nothing. We'll see." Without another word, the snake sannin pulled the door open and disappeared inside.

Moving quickly now, Kabuto turned off the monitors to that room, switching them to the monitors inside Orochimaru's clothing, monitoring heart rate, respiration, chakra flow.

_Chakra flow…normal. Respiration…a little high, still within normal parameters. Heart rate…_Kabuto frowned and checked the numbers again. _Heart rate abnormally high. 120 beats per minute. Is it just his body wearing out, or is he—_

A very crazy, traitorous idea occurred to Kabuto at that moment, and he hoped he was wrong. "Can't be," he muttered, and went back to monitoring the various measurements. On another monitor, it showed Sasuke's numbers: Chakra flow normal. Heart rate and respiration slightly accelerated but within allowable variations. Why was the container normal—

He could just write it off to his inability to actually understand the equipment. Like the microscope, it had been recovered from an ancient race. No one, not even his master, could discern what it measured. Near as they could guess, it measured chakra output—but that wasn't what he had to focus on. They were making a body transfer, and one of the participants was being strange. Kabuto had to be on his guard, because who knew what would happen in this situation?

On the camera feed, it showed Sasuke standing confident and straight-backed; it wasn't hard to discern the set look on his face. _An Uchiha to the end. His brother was the same way._

_(Even though you failed with Itachi, you still plan to go on with the younger Uchiha?_

_Are you questioning me, Kabuto?_

_Not at all, Orochimaru-sama. I'm curious._

_You see, Kabuto, it's like this--)_

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Sasuke felt the air change when his teacher entered the hall. Orochimaru was one of those men that you felt entering a room, rather than saw. The temperature didn't drop or anything silly like that; but it was as though the power level shot up. The snake's face wore its usual cocky smirk as he approached. "It's been fun, Sasuke-kun."

"Shut up and make the transfer, Orochimaru." _It's really happening…Naruto, Sakura, Kakashi, I'm sorry. But Team Seven was no more the moment I decided to leave._ He steeled himself.

"So impatient," he heard his teacher chuckle. "Very well."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Kabuto felt a bead of sweat roll down his back. The air was too tense.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Swift white fingers formed the seals. For a moment Sasuke considered using his Sharingan to copy it, just for fun, but realized it wouldn't make any difference in about a minute or so. He could feel Orochimaru's chakra, could almost _see_ it gathering around the sannin; in these last moments, he closed his eyes and waited for it to come.

He'd often asked what it would feel like. Would it be painful? Would I still be conscious of things going on, but have no control? He had never gotten the answers to those questions, he realized. But it didn't matter anymore. He would soon find out.

The chakra drew inwards, then shot toward him in a great mass like a lance. It struck him in the heart—there was the sensation of something, some great and terrible power, laying over him and around him and pressing into the core of him—

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Sasuke/Orochimaru staggered backwards, hands flying up to his head as his eyes rapidly flickered between gold, red and black. It blurred his vision.

_Illusionrealrealrealityillusionohgodohgodmakeitstopthisiswrongwrongwrongwrong—_

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Kabuto's hands flew across the keyboards, trying to figure out what the hell was going on. "Orochimaru-sama!" He yelled into the mic. "Orochimaru-sama, if you can, tell me what--!"

He watched in horror as the mass of purple chakra that identified itself as Orochimaru writhed and squirmed around its intended host. Occasionally it dove in, only to be pushed out again. Sasuke/Orochimaru screamed—the hands in his hair fisted tighter. "MAKE IT STOP, KABUTO!"

Pushing his glasses up, Kabuto pressed some more switches. This was a total disaster.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

It felt as though he was being torn apart.

_Let me in, stupid boy! For the love of the gods!_

_I'm TRYING! I'm TRYING OKAY?_

_TRY HARDER! Ah, the pain—_

_WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON, OROCHIMARU?_

_I don't—ugh—_

_WHAT THE HELL IS THIS—_

A mutual scream of pain ripped out of Sasuke/Orochimaru's vocal cords and made Kabuto, in the observation deck up above, cringe with the clarity of it. Pure pain rippled through his shoulders and spine, making him shiver.

Curling his/their arms around him/them, the figure on the ground raised confused eyes to the figure that had collapsed across from him/them, and again the lance of purple chakra that contained and shielded the soul of a soulless man shot across the room and enveloped the body. It jolted, shuddered and lay still again.

Disoriented red eyes watched as bolts of electricity shot through the limbs; it was being remotely stimulated by someone, probably Kabuto up above. Pain still coursed through his body, focusing in his tenketsu, and he moaned and scrubbed at them with his hands. Everything hurt.

Orochimaru felt his body—the body of the man he had previously occupied before this failed attempt—slowly coming back on line. He felt the decay of the tissues start again, and ground his teeth. Why had this failed?

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

In the booth above, Kabuto sat back and wiped his brow. He had brought the other body back to life through the application of electricity to the heart; and for another six months at least, this body would serve. But the three years of training and careful grooming of the Uchiha had just shown themselves to be a total waste of energy. The compatibility tests that they had ran and that Kabuto had developed himself had just shown themselves to be completely worthless.

His master would not be happy.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

A medic team came in without a word and put both the snake and the youth on stretchers for transport to their respective rooms. Sasuke curled up on the bed, the painkillers he'd been fed not yet taking effect.

_Gone. It's all gone._

_I'll never be able to kill Itachi._

_My dream is worthless._

_What am I still doing with my own breath?_

He slept.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Why?"

"I told you, Orochimaru-sama, I don't—"

"I want _ANSWERS_!"

Orochimaru lay in his bed, half-crazed with various forms of painkiller and a preservant that Kabuto had said would slow the tissue decay. It was a temporary fix to a long-term problem. And if the older nin kept up his drugged tirade, nothing would matter much. Kabuto had seen Orochimaru splinter a table to dust and kill indiscriminately and violently when he was in this state, doing the same amount of harm to himself when the kunai or the Kusanagi slipped and slashed some part of him—but of course, the painkillers deadened the sting and he wouldn't notice until he cut a tendon and collapsed. Putting on such a spectacle with a traumatized Uchiha only a few rooms down would be a terrible blunder almost as bad as the one that had just occured.

"I will have them for you, Orochimaru-sama, calm yourself and rest from this—"

"Kabuto-kun, have you forgot I do not like to be comforted?"

"Not at all, Orochimaru-sama," the medic-nin said calmly. "I will not sleep until I discern the reason behind this. You must rest now, however; your body and mind have gone through great trauma today, and in order for the jutsus and the medicines I have placed in you to work, you need to sleep."

The sannin gave him a look that clearly said _I don't want to, but I'll humor you for now._ Without another word, he laid his head back against the pillows and closed his eyes. Kabuto quietly shut the door behind him, considered locking it, and decided against it. If Orochimaru woke and found he'd been locked into his own room, he'd merely blow the door to bits and come for Kabuto with murder in his eyes.

Sighing as he went back into the lab and sat down with his notes and the video of the failed transfer. It was going to be a very, very long night.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Ibiki tipped his head back, thoughtfully stroking his chin with a gloved hand. Sasuke merely gazed at him, lost in memory still. "Those were dark times," he said quietly. "Very dark."

"I can imagine," Ibiki said slowly. "That it would be."

Sasuke laughed hollowly. "You have no idea," he said quietly. "Your spies were closing around us. He was already stressed, already moving at the breaking point between laying plans and keeping up with my training. Of course, as the date neared he'd dropped off on it, but I kept on without a thought to it until that day." The Uchiha smiled slowly. "That day is part of why none of your torture techniques could break me. Having another personality laid over yours…attempting to invade and push your own down, under, out—that's nothing compared to your methods. Being subjugated in that way is pain in its purest state."

"So how did the technique fail?"

Sasuke wet his lips, tongue still healthy and pink-looking even though he'd been surviving on minimal food and water for weeks now. "It took Kabuto some time to figure that out, and when he did, it came as a shock to us."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Are you familiar with hypnosis and susceptibility to hypnosis?"

Orochimaru looked up from the scroll he'd been studying, held delicately in gloved hands. It was an old, old scoll of seals from Iwagakure—valuable, and undoubtedly containing information he had never encountered before. "Hypnosis? Not as well-versed as I should be. Why?"

"I think I've found out why we failed."


	3. Chapter 2

Illusions

Author: **NayanRoo**

Chapter 2

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

_This Self who dwells in the body_

_Is inviolable, forever;…_

_-Bhagavad Gita, 2:30_

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Few things could catch the sannin's attention anymore. As the date for his transfer grew near, he had taken to reading in his study more often than indulging in watching the youth. Reading at least kept his mind and his hands occupied at the same time. He had a set routine of this; a run in the morning to warm his muscles up, then training with Sasuke; demonstrating a move or simply sparring for a few hours, occasionally correcting the youth's form or suggesting something, but mostly they fought without words. None were needed.

Many things had been on his mind of late. The fact that Konoha had been able to send a team of mere baby shinobi and one of his own experiments, and that they had been forced to run to another hideout with the knowledge of the location of the previous one as the sacrifice for safety—it had caused him much trouble. It meant finding and building another stronghold to replace the compromised one…there were other bills to be paid, and all the while monitoring with particular intensity the boy upon who rested the full weight of his ambition.

But that was all gone now, wasn't it? The years of training and preparation, gone to naught; the careful monitoring of the boy's growth and development, the compatibility tests, all of it was worth nothing. And he would die within the year unless he transferred to _another_ inferior body and tried to figure out what went wrong. So when Kabuto spoke up, saying he'd found a potential explanation, Orochimaru was _very_ interested.

"How does hypnosis explain our failure, Kabuto?"

The nin pushed his glasses up and stifled a yawn. "Part of the transfer jutsu involves putting the new vessel into a state of hyper-awareness generally associated with hypnosis. Basically, we hypnotize them in order to make their mind and body more receptive to you; with your previous containers, this was aided by the fact that we had them fight to the death beforehand. They were already in a heightened state of awareness."

Orochimaru nodded and made a circular gesture with his hand—_get on with it._

Taking a deep breath, Kabuto continued to the most important part of this discovery. "Some individuals are more receptive to hypnosis than others, whether because of environment or upbringing or genetics, we're never sure. Those that serve you, Orochimaru-sama, tend to be more susceptible to hypnosis."

"So why not Sasuke-kun?"

"I'm getting to it. Some individuals are not susceptible to hypnosis and in fact their subconscious actively rejects it. This occurs when they have particularly strong personalities or strong desires—and I think we are in agreement that Sasuke-sama has both, yes?"

"So Sasuke-kun's rejection of the transfer was not a conscious thing, but rather a reflex of his subconscious mind."

"Correct, Orochimaru-sama."

The snake's voice was deathly cold, when next he spoke. "Sasuke-kun, it's not polite to listen at keyholes. If you are going to come in, come in."

Shaking like a leaf with fear uncharacteristic of him, the young shinobi eased the door open, stepped in, and shut it again. "I apologize, Orochimaru-sensei."

Without a word, Orochimaru beckoned him over. Still hesitant, Sasuke did as he was asked and stood, fidgety and sweating, an arm's-length away. Golden eyes glared at him. "Stop twitching. Did I not teach you to stand still, boy?"

"You did, Orochimaru-sensei."

"Then do it." His attention went back to Kabuto. "Is there a way to counter this?"

"None that are feasible within our time-frame, Orochimaru-sama. Other than forcibly mind-breaking him, he will continue to reject all transfer attempts; and even with no sanity left, his primitive brain in which this problem lies will still be able to function."

Ibiki laughed. "That must have been something to hear," he remarked.

Sasuke's expression was unreadable. "It's rather hard to hear about what could be your fate when you're already in a state of mental shock. By then the pain had faded, but…"

The elder shinobi waved a hand. "Get out of my sight, Kabuto, and see if you can't research it more thoroughly."

With a bow, the silver-haired medic silently left the room. Slumping back in the chair with a sigh, Orochimaru put a hand to his face, noting the barely perceptible tremor. All the preservers in the world wouldn't stop the decay of his flesh, and especially in his arms. "Why is it always the arms?" he wondered out loud, scowling. A slight scuffle from the nerve-wracked boy beside him brought his attention back to the present. "Sasuke-kun, you're still here?"

"I want to know what's going to happen now," the Uchiha asked. To his credit, there was no crack in his voice beyond that of a normal teenaged boy partway through the horrors of puberty. "Since you can't transfer into my body, our original plan is trashed."

It angered the sannin to hear his student speak so disrespectfully given the circumstances, but reminding himself there _would_ be a way to use this one's body, Orochimaru contained himself and turned yellow-green eyes on the boy. "I will need to think about this, Sasuke-kun. This is a most unexpected turn of events." _Unexpected by everyone but myself, hm,_ he thought. "In the meantime, we will continue your training. Here—" he reached into his pocket and pulled out a different scroll. "Study this, and when you think you're able, find me. I shall be in the labs."

A look of obvious distaste passed over the youth's features. _I don't want to go back there._ Nevertheless, he took the scroll and went to find a place to devour it as greedily as he had the others.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Was this the same lair Konoha flushed you out of two years ago?"

"No, no. But they're all the same when you live in them long enough—and the one you found us in didn't have half the support staff it usually does. Orochimaru had sent them all out to fight. I see you've kept some."

"Mostly the more experienced chuunin and jounin we captured; the genin we can still incorporate into teams. Although they need to be…"

"…reconditioned?" Sasuke laughed. "Orochimaru did a fine job bringing people to his cause. I'm sure nobody here sees it…but I've sat in on many a business dinner, listening to him sweet-talk rulers and other shinobi alike. He's got a charisma that doesn't need any special kekkei genkai to hypnotize people. They flock to him like moths. He's a perfect dictator."

Ibiki stared at him a long moment. If it had been any other two ninja, someone would have fidgeted and broken the silence, but the captain and the prodigy sat on opposite sides of the table, calm and lost in thought. Finally, Sasuke said, "I'm going to continue now. But I would like water first."

Ibiki nodded and glanced at the mirror. "Stop recording." About three minutes later, someone knocked on the door and Ibiki took a cup with a straw and a pitcher of water from them. He poured the water and slid the glass close enough for Sasuke to lean over and suck on the straw. The young man did so, licking his lips after he sat back up. The scarred man gestured to the window—most likely to signal for the recording to start again—and then nodded to Sasuke. "Go on."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Any lair of Orochimaru's could either be described (in the simple, dirty way) as a maze, or (in the most accurate way) a veritable warren that contained miles of passages, thousands of rooms; at least three laboratories, formal dining rooms; a huge kitchen with a whole hallway devoted to pantries to feed the small army that was Orochimaru's court. Most of it was underground, but the master of the house was one with an eye for beauty as well. There were passages that led up to tightly enclosed greenhouses, walled gardens and open-air gardens that were carefully maintained sometimes by the man himself. Though he wasn't much of a gardener, Sasuke had been persuaded into it by his teacher using tomatoes as bribery. It had been low and dirty, Sasuke had thought as his pale fingers delved into rich earth imported from god-knows-where; but the reward of home-grown tomatoes was something he simply couldn't resist.

It was to one of these gardens that Sasuke came, blinking away the glare in eyes unaccustomed to direct natural light. Sometimes his training rooms had skylights that lit the room in brilliant golden tones, turning the droplets of sweat that flew off his body into precious metals.

He found a cushion placed on the edge of the portico for him as though it had been known he would be here, and an empty teacup with his favorite kind of tea (in leaf form) in a little dish next to it. A kettle simmered nearby on a brazier.

_(It is nothing but iluzi)_

He arranged himself comfortably and untied the scroll, rolling it out over his knees. The sun rose higher, so he poured himself some tea and sat back down. It was a scroll of advanced lightning jutsus, and given his affinity for lightning elements, some or all of these would help him greatly. Muttering to himself and slowly forming hand seals, he didn't notice as his tea grew cold, the sun began to set, and it began to grow chillier. Sasuke was only vaguely aware of pulling the brazier closer, pulling at his shirt so the front of the robe closed over his chest, and it wasn't until he couldn't see that he finally rolled up the parchment and put it in a pocket, going back down the stairs and through the passageways until he found his room. Once inside he once more rolled out the scroll and pored over the first jutsu, one that would enhance his sparked chidori further. Given the amount of chakra it consumed, if he used it in a pitched fight it would put him dangerously close to having to activate the seal, but—

_You never thought you'd have to think about that in any fight with Itachi, did you?_

Scowling, Sasuke redoubled his concentration efforts on the jutsu, murmuring the name of each seal as he formed it.

_If the transfer had worked, we could have been on our way to kill Itachi by now._

"Shut _up,"_ Sasuke growled, and grabbed the scroll and his sword and stalked off to one of the training rooms nearby. It took some time and more than one Katon, but he lit enough of the candles to give the room sufficient light, and soon was forming the proper seals, gathering his chakra as he had been taught and twitching as overpowered jolts of electricity danced along his tenketsu. Being jumpy when so much chakra was being drained from his system at once wouldn't be good. He would practice until he was able to perform the jutsu without being thus handicapped.

Nodding to himself, Sasuke began forming seals again.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Orochimaru found him curled up on one of the couches used by spectators in the training ground, scroll clasped in his hand and sword within reach on the floor. His fingers and the tiny points on his arms were reddened, as though they'd been held near a flame for too long, and he was grimy from drying sweat and dust.

Sighing, Orochimaru found a blanket and a small pillow in one of the linen closets the servants used to remake the rooms. Taking them back to the practice room, he gently pried the scroll from his young charge's hand, placing it on the floor next to the sword. He unfolded the blanket and tucked it around the boy, covering him from shoulders to feet, and instead of the pillow, Orochimaru lifted Sasuke's head and sat down, resettling Sasuke's head in his lap. White fingers threaded through black hair idly for a long time before at last, they stilled.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Kabuto sat back from the screens, the readouts from the various simulations he'd run paused in their long scroll up the screen. Every analysis he could do on the data already collected had pointed to Sasuke being a perfect mental, physical and chakra-power match for Orochimaru, and yet they'd failed. It couldn't just be the hypnosis…

Frustrated, he pounded his fist against the countertop. _Something_ was going on here, and he intended to get to the bottom of it. Once again that blasphemous idea that he'd had earlier popped into his head, but he dismissed it. Neither of them was capable.

Sighing, he began the simulation again, watching the data scroll to the left of the screen, nearly tearing his hair out when it blinked ALL FACTORS EQUAL at the end of the process. It was all so maddening. And it probably didn't help that he'd been sleeping in the labs, catching short naps between bouts of rage at himself, his master, the machines, and _especially_ that damned Uchiha brat.

It wouldn't do to try anything else when he was in this state of mind. When the medic got frustrated, that was when mistakes began happening.

That's what this all was.

One big mistake.

Kabuto stumbled over to the cot and fell into the mattress, asleep before his head hit the stiff pillow. His mind would continue to work on the problem of Sasuke's resistance to the technique.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Konoha: Day of the Trial, Ten Weeks After Capture

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Would you please elucidate on this issue, councilor?"

"Certainly, Hokage-sama. The resistance, based on results of tests done by medic-nins in Konoha, is based on a person's strength of will. Uchiha Sasuke's willpower is extraordinary, as has been demonstrated, and thus his inner self, if you will, could not be subjected to the supposedly superior will of Orochimaru."

"Thank you, councilor. Present your interpretation."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama. It is this councilor's opinion that once the transfer jutsu was proven to be impotent when used on his person, Uchiha Sasuke should have left and turned himself in for judgment at that point to the nearest ally of Konohagakure. His punishment would be far less severe there than it is here."

_Wrong, wrong. You are blinded by ritual, foolish little man. The pieces of the puzzle are in your hands and you have all the evidence you need, but you cannot see the forest for the trees._

Sasuke was perfectly still.

In the crowded courtroom, Naruto still had to jump to see over the shoulders of the people in front of him. Finally he gave up and ran to the back of the room, rounding the corner and taking the stairs to the balcony two and three at a time. The nineteen-year-old jounin had had many shocks in the last year, but this one…

No, this one…

This one he would not miss. Something smelled fishy here, and he knew he'd had _vegetable_ ramen that morning before heading straight here. Sasuke, his best friend, did not do what they were saying he did.

Orochimaru he knew about. He had been the one who walked in on them doing—_it._

He had been the first to discover the two of them standing in a circle—no, he wasn't going to think about that day. For his friend's sake, he wouldn't-couldn't-shouldn't at his trial.

On the balcony, he finally found the others. Kiba, Shino, Neji and Lee in the back, looking at him with solemn sad eyes. On the railing—his old teacher, Kakashi, Sakura (with tears in her eyes, damn it, he still felt a twinge of regret at that) and his own girlfriend, the white-eyed girl with the pink cheeks, Hinata. Naruto took his seat between Sakura and Hinata, and they both embraced him tightly.

_Why is he just sitting there and listening to 'em,_ Naruto thought angrily. _Why's he just letting 'em beat him down, sitting and taking it without fighting back?_ The jinchuuriki wanted to scream _Sasuke-teme! Get your head in gear, stupid!_

But he didn't. Years of training had grounded him and made him realize that there were times that motivational speeches weren't appropriate, and this classified as one of them.

Scowling, he listened to the story he had already heard.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Sound: Two Years Ago; One Year Prior to Return

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Orochimaru was brooding that day.

The Uchiha didn't even have to walk outside his door to know that. He could hear the hush in the servants scurrying past his door, intent on whatever little errands they were on. He could taste the tension in the air, like a sour tang on the back of his tongue.

It was _not_ going to be a very good day at all.

Over the course of his fifteenth and halfway through his sixteenth year, as long as the body of the now-nameless man could take it, they had stretched the Snake's life out beyond all reason and attempted the transfer jutsu twice more. The last time had nearly broken his mind entirely, with an enraged sannin half-maddened with whatever slosh Kabuto was feeding into his IV to keep the man alive screaming in his head, he screaming outside, and Kabuto frantically trying to reverse the process. Since then, they had not tried with him once, and Sasuke was eternally grateful. _Thank heaven for small miracles,_ he thought, as he did every morning—and then smirked ruefully and rubbed his fingertips over the cursed seal.

"Thank heaven, shit," he mumbled, and climbed into the shower.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Orochimaru-sama, I have breakfast for you—"

"I'm not hungry today, Kabuto."

"—it's cereal, toast, ham—"

"I _said_, I'm not hungry."

The medic put the burgeoning tray on a clear spot on the mahogany table. "Orochimaru-sama, it is important that your nutrient intake is stable. This last transfer was a difficult one to make as we stretched the worth of that other body out."

"I'm well aware of how difficult it was, Kabuto-_kun._"

That was usually a cue to leave right now before something got broken, but Kabuto was exhausted, had just carried the tray himself from the kitchens and prepared the vitamins and various supplements his master had to take, and was not going to be deterred by yet another fit of melancholy. "Orochimaru-sama, you are more aware than most how difficult the transfer was, this I do not doubt. But I feel I am close to a breakthrough with Sasuke—and your body needs these nutrients."

The sannin's amber eyes remained fixed on the scroll he was reading—a correspondence from one of the outlying towns under Otogakure's region of influence. "Very well. I will have eaten the vile concoction by noontime."

"That is all I ask, Orochimaru-sama."

"You may leave, Kabuto."

"Yes, Orochimaru-sama. Sasuke-sama is outside the door, shall I send him in?"

"Yes, please do."

Kabuto took note of how his master's whole being seemed to perk up a little, although the posture remained the same. "As you wish." He noiselessly crossed the room and slipped out the door, motioning a freshly washed Sasuke in.

The Uchiha shut the door behind him with a click. "Good morning, Orochimaru."

"Indeed, Sasuke-kun. Tell me, what have you learned from yesterday?"

Rubbing the still-sore muscles in his shoulders, Sasuke grimaced. "That it's not a good idea to pull out my second level in an enclosed space."

His mentor rolled up the scroll, placing it with other report scrolls on his desk. "Come here, loosen your yukata."

Eager, Sasuke grabbed a cushion from the floor and brought it around behind the big desk. Sitting down with his back to the snake, the Uchiha sighed in relief as white hands began to work his abused muscles. "I heard of the success of your mission. What are your thoughts?"

Sasuke sniffed. "Should have been A-rank," he said, miffed. "Too easy."

"Even though you had to activate your second level?"

"It was easy until then, and I wouldn't have had to if I hadn't been careless."

"A point, Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke's mind relaxed with his muscles. Maybe his teacher wasn't in such a bad mood after all. When he was in the evening, and Sasuke happened to cross his path – but he was still the pet, the favorite, despite all these setbacks. He knew there was no one else suitable for his master's ambition, and that was why they kept him.

But that was the only reason they kept him, and what happened when he fell out of favor?

"Stop."

Surprised, he felt hands pulling him back flush with hard knees, one hand resting comfortably in the thick nest of black hair. Tilting his head, he looked quizzically up at his mentor. Orochimaru ran thin fingers over the silky strands, gaze serious for once and not the mocking half-amusement he normally wore.

"I know what you're worrying about. Don't. We will yet accomplish your ambition and see mine fulfilled. We did not spend these five years in vain."

Soothed as he always was by his master's attentions, Sasuke relaxed back. He probably wouldn't go out on another mission for another couple days at least—Sound didn't get that many high-level requests and Orochimaru didn't want to waste talent on low level missions—and in that time, he'd found some very interesting scrolls in the base he'd infiltrated.

"Konoha nin have been spotted on our borders, Sasuke-kun."

The Uchiha kept his face impassive and body relaxed. They'd had many such little intrusions over the years, this was nothing new. "And?"

"They were carrying such things as to establish a permanent camp. It seemed more like they were the scouting party for an army than a band of shinobi on a guerilla mission."

"Are you saying that they were looking for a place to establish a staging ground for an army of Konoha nin within Sound?"

"Precisely." Orochimaru's hands left Sasuke's shoulders and the prodigy could feel his teacher move away. Without turning around he could see how the Snake was seated; leaning his elbow on his desk, chin in his palm, eyes thoughtful. Many nights between their last transfer attempt and this day they had sat like this and debated, philosophized, and traded stories in. The reality of immortality seemed to creep up on Orochimaru, the realization that he would outlive all he had once known and would live to see the world move on again as it had with the advent of shinobi.

"Let them come," Sasuke said softly. His eyes burned bright. "They were unable to give me aid. My loyalty lies with Sound now."

"Leaf is strong," Orochimaru said. "Stronger than they've been in decades. Their blood is up and they are ready for full-scale war." A long-banked fire sparked too in the sannin's eyes. "It is time I show them just how strong Sound has become in these recent years. Sasuke, assemble a team of hunters and scout the borders. You will leave as soon as you have reported the members of your team to me."

Standing, Sasuke indicated his understand and vanished. Sitting alone now in his study, Orochimaru read the last hurried lines on the communiqué and put it away, chuckling to himself. "Let Leaf come," he said. "They have underestimated us for far too long."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Konoha: One Week After Capture

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"You know the rest," Orochimaru said flatly. His brow was wet with the strain of fighting the truth-telling drug they'd forced him to drink, and his eyes glittered feverishly. The effects were wearing off after the exhausting hours of questioning, and he was beginning to have more control over his words.

Ibiki glared down at the once-proud sannin, fighting the urge to run from the room. Even incapacitated as he was, Orochimaru still gave Ibiki the creeps. "We do. The Konoha-Oto War lasted one year before Oto's leaders surrendered to us. Konoha annexed the Land of Rice Fields, known to its inhabitants now as the Land of Sound, and took captive all chuunin and jounin of Otogakure; whatever hunters the cells found were questioned and killed and their bodies burned. All of your known hideouts were searched, but neither you, the missing-nin Uchiha Sasuke, nor the missing-nin Yakushi Kabuto were found. And then almost a year after the end of the war, you and Uchiha Sasuke arrived in Konoha seeking asylum."

"Correct."

"Why?"

The Snake felt the words bubbling out of him and tried, with no success, to stem them. This was a part of the story that he did not want anyone to know.

"We came because we were looking for something."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Orochimaru-sama?"

"I am lord of nothing worth mentioning now, Sasuke-kun."

"Then call me Sasuke, and I'll call you Orochimaru, and we'll be even."

"…very well, Sasuke."

"It's in Konoha, isn't it."

"Yes."

"…we leave tomorrow."


	4. Chapter 3

_The sharpest sword will not pierce it;_

_the hottest flame will not singe it;_

_water will not make it moist;_

_wind will not cause it to wither._

-_Bhagavad Gita, _2.23

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"We sought something to help our own ambitions become a reality, after Otogakure fell and the Land of Sound was lost and our place there was no longer safe. We left under cover of darkness and Henge, and wandered the world. I made one transfer in that time, to an escaped Oto jounin that we found in a country far removed from any shinobi nation that would be on your maps. We traveled the world over, searching the esoterica of foreign lands for something that would meld our powers.

"In a way, we found what we were looking for, now that I think about it, but it came in a different form than we expected and it wasn't until an inopportune time that we realized just what we had discovered. In my travels with Sasuke, I found that many things came in different packages, and between the two of us we began to realize that things were no longer what they had once been."

Ibiki sat, his fear quelled for the moment. He saw Orochimaru fight the drug's compulsion briefly before succumbing again, and listened.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Fire Country: One Year Prior to Capture and Trial

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Two cloaked figures made their way through the courtyard of the inn to the entrance. The shorter of the two walked up to the night manager. "Are there rooms available?"

Used to such mysterious figures—after all, this was shinobi country—the manager checked the roster and nodded. "Second floor, third room on yer right. Here's the key. Dinner ends in half an hour, if ya want any grub I suggest you get down there."

The figure nodded, took the key, and both mysterious guests disappeared down the hallway, following the smell of food.

The hotel manager sighed. "Ninjas," he muttered. Always skulking around, they were, and scaring off _honest_ business. His youngest wanted to go to the hidden village nearby and learn to be a shinobi, but the manager was working on quashing that foolhardy urge. Those in the villages were born to the life, and it was best not to meddle in the affairs of people he did not, could not, and had no desire to understand. 'sides, they always had that creepy feeling around them, no matter how nice they were. Like there was some aura around them that touched and caressed you, looked into your head, and sent every thought back to the shinobi. Those two that had just gone by seemed especially creepy. He'd make a note for the maids to leave 'em alone in the morning.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

As it had been in every inn they'd stayed at, the two sat by themselves. They ate in silence, although the voracity with which they devoured the bland food said volumes of itself; the tall one had a pallor barely visible under the cowl of his cloak, and the shorter one had hair that stuck out in back and pushed his hood back. Those who had caught a glimpse of his face saw that he was an extraordinarily beautiful young man, if a little thin, and that he was obviously a shinobi of some breeding. The both of them exuded power, and they were left alone.

For the most part, anyway.

A man named Tatsu and his gang were also in the dining hall that night. He liked to think of himself as a Big Man, one who could control anything in his path, and shinobi were just more challenging than others. These didn't look too threatening, either; they were thin and weak-looking, and to top it off, they were covered. He hated people who hid their true selves.

He stood and made his way over to where they were finishing up, soaking the last bits of broth up with some fresh bread. Tatsu was a huge man, all muscle, and even though he wasn't shinobi he was still an expert fighter. Putting his dinner-plate-sized hands down on the table, he leaned until he saw the other end tilt a little. "I don't like yer kind," he said without any prologue to it. "Yer a bunch'a lowlife bastards, ya take from the normal people an' all you do is murder innocents."

Both the shinobi paused and set their bread down. The shorter one's head turned a little under his hood to look at Tatsu, and an inexplicable sense of fear came over him. Even though this slip of a ninja wasn't moving at all, he still had this effect on the big man—and the taller one hadn't said anything. He sat there, one pale hand resting lightly on the edge of the table. It was fuckin' annoying.

"Listen, kid," Tatsu said. He knew his face showed the fear he felt. "I don't know what kind of voodoo you're pulling on me, but I'm not gonna ask ya nicely ta stop. I don' hold stock with your people at all. Not at all, an' yer beginnin' to get on my nerves. So just put your charms away an' get the hell out of here."

"We can't do that," the tall one said suddenly. "We've already paid for our room, you see."

Tatsu realized that both these people were male, and smirked wickedly. He knew of a way to get under their skin, oh yes he did. "Damn fags," he sneered. "Fucking like goddamned animals. You, kid, you must take it up the ass—don'tcha? His d—"

Tatsu got no further on his insults because in one motion the kid had stood and somehow seemed on eye-level with the other man, even though Tatsu had a good two feet on him. "I'll thank you not to talk about my partner like that," the kid said. His voice was low and silky, but felt like a velvet-covered sheath for a sharp and deadly sword. "He deserves much more respect."

Something glinted under the other's hood, something that Tatsu knew he should look away from but couldn't. It was something beautiful and terrible all at once, and it was red. Tatsu got an impression of a black wheel against a red background, spinning and spinning endlessly. It drew him in, captivated him—and as he watched, hypnotized, he began to hear things, voices in his head, telling him what to do.

_Leave us alone leave this place leave this town and never ever ever come back_

"C'mon, boys," Tatsu said, moving away from the cloaked shinobi and toward the door. Confused, his lackeys followed him, and the whole gang left. Slowly, the room came back to life. Neither of the two had realized it had gone silent through their whole encounter.

The shorter man turned to the taller, still sitting. "Perhaps it is time we retire to our rooms."

The taller stood. "I think it is, indeed."

Silently they both left. When they did, a great weight was lifted off the room, and it returned to normality.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Silently the two shinobi made their way up to the second floor. The taller waited while the shorter opened the room, and once the door was closed the taller man threw back his hood and glared at his companion. "That was a pretty stunt in there."

The other pulled his cloak off and hung it up behind the door. In the time between when they'd been forced to leave the lair and now, Sasuke had grown into a man. He was eighteen now, tall and handsome; his hair was thick and glossy with health even though his life had been lived on the road for the last year. "It got him off our backs, didn't it?"

"It was too risky. We are already being hunted; they know they didn't kill us a year ago, and now that we're heading in to the snake's pit, we must take extra precautions. If a story gets out about a Sharingan user in Fire Country, every hunter-nin from every village within range will come after us. Konoha's ANBU will be on us faster than flies on carrion meat."

Sasuke shrugged. "He spoke disrespectfully. I cannot allow that."

"Are you not used to it after all this time?"

"We owe each other a lot, Orochimaru." Sasuke turned his back. "I'm going to take a bath." The bathroom door shut behind him with a click. The sannin heard the water start up and shook his head.

_Typical boy,_ he thought wearily, and stripped off his cloak, shirt and shoes and lay down on the bed. There was only one bed, but the two were used to curling up together in hotel rooms, since getting a one-room, one-bed accommodation was easier and cheaper than separate beds. They did not have sex; such a thing was farthest from their minds in favor of keeping a step ahead of their pursuit and staying alive.

_(He felt the Uchiha slide in beside him, fresh and clean from his bath. Out of habit, the younger nin cuddled in close, and out of habit Orochimaru wrapped his arms around his protégé. In places like these there was no need to stand a watch; they had entered the town without being seen, and had thrown off the hunters on their trail for some days. They had a rare chance to relax._

_Opening his eyes, Orochimaru met Sasuke's dark gaze, muddied with sleepiness and something else. In that moment he had looked so inviting that the sannin had moved forward, pressing a kiss to his companion's lips, not looking for more than simple acknowledgement for he was tired, and when he felt the boy shift and respond by clumsily pushing back against his mouth, he pulled away._

"_Good night, Sasuke," he had said. The other had settled himself again, head pushed under Orochimaru's chin._

"'_night," he had mumbled sleepily.)_

Moments like those were permissible only because of their mutual need. The need to be close and to be recognized; the desire to affirm that their ambitions would be seen fulfilled. Although, Orochimaru thought wryly, one already had. Pulling back the sleeve of his black shirt, he examined the seal on his right forearm. It wasn't anything like the one he had placed on Sasuke, the cursed Heaven that was in reality, Hell. This one he knew to be called the tri-marga seal, the Seal of the Triple Path. It was an ancient power, and it granted them an ability that they were still trying to understand. The scroll they had gotten the jutsu, and thus by way of experimentation and risk-taking the seal, had mentioned there was a sister scroll given to a group of brigands some years ago. Since their first activation of this seal, they had searched for the second, to learn more of the tri-marga's secrets and to boost its potential.

But it came with its downfalls; now that there were two seals linking them, Orochimaru and Sasuke were even more closely tied to each other. Where before along the Heaven seal they had gotten inklings of emotions and were able to sense each other's whereabouts, the combination of the Heaven seal and the Triple Path made them nearly telepathic, if not empathic. Orochimaru had caught himself projecting a bad mood onto Sasuke more than once already, and he had caught all the emotions of a youth entering manhood, _including_ how he seemed to lust after everything that had what he wanted and was living. That last one had led to some very awkward situations.

It had its benefits of course, and not limited to what it actually granted. The ability to sense thoughts or emotions led to their skills as a fighting team surpassing their ability to fight solo. It had rankled them both that they were now in each other's heads, but in confrontations after gaining the seal they had both been thankful.

Sasuke came out of the bathroom, wrapped in a towel with another in his hand. "Musing about the Triple Path again?" he asked idly. Orochimaru knew the boy had caught onto his thoughts, as usual. Sasuke seemed the more sensitive of the two of them.

"Chewing the cud, as it were. I'm still looking for more clues."

"You're wasting your time. We milked all the information we could out of that scroll."

"….."

"…..?"

"…I am not being unreasonable."

"You are, and you know it." Sasuke pulled on a pair of sleeping pants and slid under the covers. Orochimaru followed suit, and again they curled together. "'night, snaker."

"Good night, Sasuke."

It was some time before either one went to sleep.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

The village looked exactly as it had when he left six years ago; the same shops, the same people, different children. Under the protection of his hood, Sasuke gaped around.

_It's as if the invasion of Konoha never happened,_ he thought.

There was a ripple of displeasure in the corner of his head that Sasuke imagined Orochimaru's thoughts and feelings spoke from. Slowly, as though from a great distance, he heard _No need to remind me of it._

Sasuke sent a feeling of apology, and then there was a little sprinkling of acceptance in the back of his mind. Smiling, Sasuke rubbed absently at the tri-marga seal. Sometimes this had its benefits.

The glances people threw their way grew more and more suspicious the closer they got to the Hokage Tower. The pair passed the gates of the Hyuuga compound, thrown open for the day, and Sasuke wondered vaguely if he could glance in and see Neji and Hinata. They had been good to him. Orochimaru caught his wandering thoughts and sent a quizzical feeling along the seal.

The sannin was wholly focused on their goal; they knew the second scroll was in Konoha, and that it would very likely be in the vault of so-called 'forbidden' scrolls under the Hokage tower. Without the access tag of a jounin or ANBU, or the Hokage's personal tag, they wouldn't be allowed in. Orochimaru had left his jounin tag behind when he'd left Konoha, thinking he'd gained all the knowledge he'd needed. Now he cursed his shortsightedness; that could have gotten them all the information they could have wanted without this, but now they were forced to go beg for asylum and favor with the one person who probably wouldn't give it to them.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"That was one thing this Council was never clear on, Godaime Tsunade," one of the other Kages said. "Why you broke village and shinobi law to let two missing-nins return to the active roster and ordered their names taken out of the Bingo Books."

Tsunade's face was closed. "It's not often that two of the most wanted missing-nins willingly turn themselves in to me," she said dryly. "Although I don't encourage them to do so; not only would ANBU be out of a job, but I would have far too much paperwork." There was scattered laughter throughout the room.

"Nevertheless, they were top-ranked among not just ANBU but also the Mist Hunter-nins, the Rock Headhunters, and countless other nin-hunting organizations."

"I'm sure if we let the good councilman continue with his reading of the testimonies we have from Orochimaru and from Uchiha Sasuke, more of the story will become clear."

"Then proceed."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

She was appropriately wrathful, Sasuke decided. Orochimaru caught his fear and sent a flicker of amusement back; this reminded him of the old Tsunade he'd been teammates with. How Orochimaru had been able to put up with this day after day was really beyond Sasuke; he was terrified of her, and they hadn't been in the room five minutes.

"—_think you can just walk back into Konoha like nothing ever happened here when you're both guilty of heinous crimes against us? And what about Naruto and Sakura, Sasuke, what the hell do you think you're doing here with this snake anyway—"_

Orochimaru had dealt with it, Sasuke decided, by simply tuning her tirades out entirely. This was not far from the truth. Standing beside Sasuke, the sannin had begun his own mental wandering almost before the rant had begun.

"—_how dare you two presume that I will do such a thing as to let you into the vaults that contain not only the scrolls but the entire history of Konoha, and your traitorous eyes aren't worthy to look upon it—"_

How much longer was she going to go on? Sasuke thought, standing perfectly still. He was sure the guards were listening through the doors, there had to people sticking to the walls outside—if he'd had a mind to he could feel them out, but thought it'd be unwise if Tsunade found him poking about with chakra trails.

"—_and if you two expect any sympathy from me you can both shove it up your asses and walk right back out the way you came. Now hurry up and tell me what you want."_

Orochimaru smiled just as though he'd been listening all along. "We ask asylum of Konoha, Tsunade. We ask that our ranks be given back to us—Sasuke will be allowed to take the next chuunin exam, and I ask that my rank as jounin be restored to me—and we ask for access to the vaults under this tower. There is a scroll we seek."

This seemed to set off another rant, but it was much shorter than the other one and culminated in Tsunade settling back in her seat and asking, "Why? And what does Konoha have to gain?"

"A power not yet unleashed on this side of the world," Orochimaru said with a smirk. "Let's show her, Sasuke. Seeing is believing."

Rolling up their sleeves (Orochimaru's right, Sasuke's left), they let her see the tri-marga gleaming against their pale skin. It was a seal much like the Caged-Bird but smaller and surrounded by strange symbols, curving and recurving over their skin. Simultaneously, they activated its first level.

Their chakra became visible; Orochimaru's was a dark purple-black, Sasuke's blue, and when they merged they became a burning ultraviolet. Their emotion-sense and thought-sense became greater than before.

_Karma Level activated, _they thought, and projected that onto Tsunade. She jumped, staring at them wide-eyed. _Action seal released._

Speechless, Tsunade watched as Sasuke ran the hand seals for the chidori and it blossomed into view, sparking blue and white around his hand. With a little extra boost from Orochimaru's chakra, it flared and not only did its girth widen, but it became Habataku Chidori—normally unable to be released unless Sasuke had already activated his cursed seal.

After she had seen, Sasuke canceled the chidori and they deactivated the seal. Their chakras untangled and flowed back into their respective owners and vanished from sight. Awed, the Hokage gaped before choking out "What—what was that?"

"The scroll called it the tri-marga seal—in the parlance of the realm we found it in, the

'Triple Path.' It is three levels and three seal releases; Karma level, the Action seal; Bhakti level, the Devotion seal; and Jnana level, the Knowledge seal. Karma level lets us merge our chakra; in addition, even when the levels are not activated and the seals in place, we are able to communicate mentally."

"Do you mean telepathy?" Tsunade asked, incredulous. Orochimaru glanced at Sasuke, who nodded.

"In a way. We communicate more often by feelings—emotions, impulses, instincts, especially in the heat of battle. I'm more sensitive to it, I guess, so I can communicate by thought as well. Orochimaru prefers to stay with the former side of it."

"Amazing…" Tsunade said. "How far have you activated?"

"Only to the Bhakti level; the scroll cut off just before the Jnana level, and we are hesitant to use it before we know its consequences as well as its benefits. The second scroll also contains the finer details of the tri-marga's use, although some of it we're fairly sure we figured out on our own."

"What makes you so sure that the scroll is here?"

"Given our luck, where else would it be?"

She nodded. "What do you intend to use this for? To kill Itachi?"

Sasuke and Orochimaru looked at each other. Sasuke reached into the folds of the cloak he still wore and pulled out a sealed oilskin bag. "Well, Tsunade-sama," he said with a smirk curling across his lips. "We couldn't use it for that."

Watching him walk forward, Tsunade eyed the bag warily. "Why is that?"

Sasuke opened the bag, reached in, and pulled out Itachi's severed, staring head. "We've already done it."


	5. Chapter 4

_Whatever exists, Arjuna,_

_animate or inanimate,_

_has come into existence_

_from the union of field and Knower._

_-Bhagavad Gita,_ 13.26

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

When a clansman died, his or her kekkei genkai kicked into self-destruct mode. Unless otherwise halted by an outside force, the bloodline of the clan would force the body into accelerated decay, particularly in the areas affected by the special abilities the clan line granted. The Kaguya bloodline had to burn their dead almost immediately; the bones were often half-dissolved by the time they got there. The Hyuugas had their Caged Bird to destroy the secrets of the Byakugan in the Branch House, and in the Main House the dead were burned and their ashes scattered over the forests of Konoha. It was the same within the Uchiha clan, up until Uchiha Itachi had murdered them all; the eyes of each member began to literally melt within ten minutes of the heartbeat ceasing. When the ANBU had finally been able to move into the Uchiha compound, they found every clan member with an active Sharingan no longer had any eyes. They burned all the bodies and scattered the ashes, dedicating a special memorial wall near the cordoned-off entrance of the compound to the massacre.

Sasuke had always found it ironic that they'd left space for two more names.

Itachi's eyes had melted, and his head's time in a bag had not done anything for his appearance. It reeked, it was rotting, and the residue of the eyes ran down his cheeks like goopy tears. Tsunade held her hand over her mouth as she examined it; it was not a Henge, and the usual tingle of genjutsu against her fingers was not there. It was, unmistakably, the head of one of the most wanted men in the world.

Amazed, she shakily walked back around her desk and sank into the chair, cleaning her hand with a bit of cloth. A thousand things went through her head at that point, a thousand possibilities, a thousand questions—not the least of which was…

"…how?"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "I put chidori through his heart and cut off his head. We burned the body and brought the head with us here."

"Being a smartass will get you nowhere with me. How did you manage to do what multiple ANBU squads could not do, without your power—" She cut off, looking between them. Sasuke could almost hear her gears turning. After a moment, she sat back. "So I take it that none of the seal activation occurred until you ran into Itachi."

"Actually," Orochimaru said, "We'd accidentally activated it once beforehand, right after we sealed ourselves. We'd been cornered by hunter-nin when we returned to this continent, from some village or other, and in the heat of battle Sasuke forced enough chakra through the seal that it activated mine as well. We decimated them—killed half the squad and sent the rest running. They pursued us almost all the way here."

"That was when we went back to the scroll and looked over it more carefully," Sasuke chimed in. "And then we practiced as we traveled here."

"And on the way you happened to run into Itachi."

"We don't do anything recklessly, Tsunade," Orochimaru said icily. "We are in possession of a power we do not understand. We know the first two levels—mostly. There are things this seal is capable of that we can't use yet; nonetheless, we know what the Karma and Bhakti levels can do. We didn't call Itachi out to us to test this thing's ability. We called him out to _kill_ him. But our motives for that should be obvious." Orochimaru waved a hand. "That isn't what is important. What do you say to our request?"

Tsunade glared between them; the Kage council would be after her, the councilors here would plot against her, and the village would suspect her of being placed under a manipulation jutsu. Given the two in front of her, she wasn't at all willing to put it past them. But with this power in the hands of Konoha, it was safe from being taken to another village and used against them, or destroyed altogether. And then Konoha could put it to its own use.

"If I let you stay," she said slowly, glaring at them, "What will I have as assurance you aren't simply plotting something and using this as a cover?"

"Would we have gone through the trouble of killing Itachi and showing off the seal if we were only planning to invade? We would have assembled shinobi and attacked en force, rather than expel all our energy in these pursuits to convince you. Do you think activating the seal dry like this is easy?"

Looking closer at Sasuke, she saw his cheeks were flushed slightly, as though he'd been running, and the pulse in his neck was faster than normal. "I've known Orochimaru to go to great lengths to deceive others, and you've spent years in his company. Who's to say—Orochimaru?"

The sannin had walked over to her desk and pulled a blank scroll over to him, unrolling it carefully over an open bit of desk. Biting his finger, Orochimaru let the blood well up a moment, his eyes level as Tsunade edged away from it. "All these years and your phobia remains?" he asked wryly. "No matter." Putting his finger to the white paper, he drew his name in his own blood. "There is my assurance. I do not spill my own blood as easily as others."

Following his partner's lead, Sasuke walked over and did the same, biting his finger and writing his name below Orochimaru's. With a bit of alarm Tsunade noticed his finger looked shiny with scar tissue, as though he'd bitten it a lot, which meant he'd learned how to summon and was using that finger for bloodletting. She wondered if he'd contracted with the snakes, and realized the answer to that was so damn obvious.

"We swear in blood," Orochimaru said seriously. "We bring you Itachi's head and the tri-marga. Will you not have us now?"

"I have no choice," Tsunade said, edgy from the bloodletting. "Orochimaru, you will be granted your rank of jounin, but you will not be allowed to take genin teams. And should Sasuke make jounin, he will also be under the same rule. You cannot be trusted with young minds."

They shrugged, showing they accepted it. Sasuke was sucking on the finger he'd bitten.

"I will find housing for you. I assume you will want to be together?"

"It's less bothersome that way," Sasuke said around his finger. Orochimaru shot him a look and he took the finger out, glaring back. Tsunade got a vague impression of a short, snappy dialogue and then both of them had their attention back on her. Walking over to one of the shelving units, she ran her finger over them until she found the one she wanted and pulled it out.

Shinobi could live wherever they could afford to live, of course, but there were special housing units built especially to suit the needs of shinobi. The windows were larger, in effect doors themselves; the bedroom was in the center of the apartment, with all other rooms around it, so that jumpy shinobi fresh from a mission weren't paranoid about enemies shooting them through the windows; the bathrooms had guard rails and nonslip flooring so that even if they were dripping blood they wouldn't hurt themselves further by falling, things along those lines. Those who applied for apartments with room for families had further protections. Such apartments were also where wards of the Hokage lived.

Pulling a scroll off, she took it over to the desk and unrolled it, scanned the contents and wrote their names into the appropriate lines, then spun it around to face them. "Sign here—in ink, please," she qualified, thrusting a pen at them, unwilling to endure more blood. Their contract she rolled up gingerly and stored away in a drawer of the great wooden desk. "As Konoha shinobi, you'll both receive a stipend for food and gear, in the amount of ten thousand per month for Sasuke and twenty thousand for you, Orochimaru. The first payment will be made immediately, and will follow at the same date every month thereafter. I'll want a full demonstration of the powers of this tri-marga seal, after you're both settled in, and after you've mastered the contents of the other scroll. I also want a detailed written report on it, to be handed to me personally in no more than a week. Do I make myself clear?"

"Transparently," Orochimaru said. Glaring at him, Tsunade rolled up their housing scroll and put it aside.

"Your files will be reopened, your registration numbers reactivated, and any accounts both of you had at the central bank here reinstated in their full amount. Sasuke, as you are of age according to Konoha law, you will have access to what remains of the Uchiha bank accounts and will act as sole beneficiary, given that all other members of your family are dead. Will you want your brother's name engraved on the memorial?"

Sasuke looked distant a moment before nodding slowly. "Yes," he said. "He is still an Uchiha."

"Very well. Remember that no matter how powerful you are, you both answer to me. I will tolerate no insubordination from either of you, and given your track record with this village I am less likely to show leniency. You may collect basic gear downstairs; these tags will grant you back the hitae-ate and will get you your flak jacket, Orochimaru. Remember that no matter if you've got my acceptance and backing or not, you are still engraved in the minds of many villagers as traitors; try not to stir up more trouble than you already undoubtedly will. Welcome home."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Ibiki smirked. "Those first months were pretty touch-and-go, if memory serves me," he said. Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"You have no idea," he said with a touch of annoyance. "We were watched like hawks by ANBU under Tsunade's orders as we settled in. It was hard enough getting the gear we needed; until she came with us and personally ordered sales, we were met with closed doors and suspicious glares. It was harder for Orochimaru than it was for me; you see, even though I would always have the excuse of a familial massacre to hide behind, he had nothing. And his pride would not allow it.

"We were met with even stranger looks when we said we slept together. It's always been easier for us, since we started our wanderings. In some places it was for warmth but most of the time it was for companionship. We were never lovers before that."

"But after…? We have testimony from—"

"Naruto caught us, I know. There's a story to that, but like everything in this tale it has events that need explaining before we can get to it; mainly, my reunion with my old teammates, the test of our power, and the nature of most of Orochimaru's missions."

"It's a pity you never made it to this year's chuunin exams."

"I was sent on missions far above what most genin did anyway, and by myself or with my team. They knew full well the extent of my power. And when I wasn't with Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi, I was with Orochimaru. They knew our power together."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Sasuke crouched, Sharingan activated and scanning ahead in the darkness. The tri-marga was visible on his arm, but it lay inactive. He could still feel Orochimaru in his head, however, moving swiftly through the trees toward him.

_Ironic,_ he thought with a smirk. _The place our journey comes to an end is the place it began at._

The Forest of Death.

They had gotten here at twilight and had until the sunrise to complete their goal; two teams opposed them, each carrying something they had to get before they could make their way to the tower at the center and the end of the test of the tri-marga's powers. They had been split up and not told which gate the other was at, but it had been ridiculously easy to communicate while they were apart and know where the other was. Sasuke didn't see the point of splitting them up if they could just communicate their positions via the seal's link.

Suddenly, he felt the presence of two—no, three other shinobi. His Sharingan was able to detect their movements as he spun to face them, deflecting the projectiles with three of his own. One split off and pulled out two scrolls, tossing them high into the air above her. A flurry of weapons rained down at him and he quickly dodged, flipping up into a tree.

_Orochimaru,_ he called frantically, dodging again as another weapons barrage flew at him. _Hurry up!_ He got a vague sense of annoyance and lots of activity and swore quietly. So this was why they'd been split up—the teams went after them separately and tried to stop them. Sasuke smirked; they didn't know that the seal could be activated over a distance. It was weaker, but…

He sent the mental command they'd worked out and got an answer. Pushing off from the branch he had been perched on he flew high above his attackers, a dark-and-pale shape against dark trees. Pushing chakra through the seal he felt the first level open.

_Karma level activated. Action seal released._

Their chakra pooled now, he attacked with ferocity while analyzing each enemy's gear and body, looking for something that stood out, something that—

_There!_

Leaping forward, Sasuke ran a set of hand seals and fire blossomed in front of him. The attackers fell back, but as a fire user he zoomed through them unconcerned. Quick as a striking snake, his hand reached out and pulled the replica of his brother's necklace off the belt loop of the long-haired one in back. Tucking his feet up, he flipped over and skidded to a halt behind them.

_Got mine, Orochimaru. Where?_

_East of you, about half a mile. Hurry, boy._

Ignoring the 'boy' comment for now, Sasuke shot off into the canopy of the trees. The other team didn't pursue him.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

After Sasuke left, Neji pulled off his mask and stared after the Uchiha, rocketing through the forest at a speed unseen in any shinobi. He thought about the strange surge of chakra that he'd seen appear around Sasuke partway through their skirmish.

"So what do you think?" TenTen asked him as she re-rolled her weapons scrolls.

"I think we weren't told everything in the mission briefing," he said.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

He found Orochimaru battling all three, right arm a mass of writhing snakes holding the attacking team at bay. As soon as they were close he felt the power from the seal surge and knew that these were on a different level than the other three; their own power seethed and rolled off them like water. Even with the first level activated, Sasuke wouldn't be able to defeat the three of them on his own; and it was time to display a bit more of their own power to those watching. Both of them leapt back, forcing more chakra through the seal.

_Bhakti level activated. Devotion seal released._

Their movements became liquid; their chakra burned bright around them. The power of the Bhakti level was the same as opening the Gates, with less strain on the body, and with it came godly speed and clarity of vision. Orochimaru could, in the back of his mind, see things through the Sharingan eye of his partner, and used it accordingly. The Bhakti level had been said to originate as a method of worship, according to the scroll, and when it had been used as part of the tri-marga it became the middle step between the complete joining of bodies in the Jnana level and the separate oneness of the Karma level. Bhakti joined minds.

Using a boost of speed, Orochimaru looped around Sasuke, now using the snake-hands jutsu himself to hold their attackers at bay, and grabbed the padded sword out of his sheath. It hummed in his hand, the metal ringing clearly back up at him even through the felt that kept it from cutting the opponents. As each was registered as a 'kill,' they fell to the ground unmoving.

_Let's go,_ Orochimaru said, and was gone in the next second. Sasuke followed him easily, their movements flowing like water. If someone had watched them, it would have seemed that they were floating, not leaping, through the air.

Suddenly the team that Sasuke fought was in their way and at once they leapt in opposite directions. Orochimaru met with a barrage of taijutsu and was pushed back, the seal flaring around his body as Sasuke passed in front of him, an uppercut to the cloaked jaw cutting off the attack, followed by a swift kick in the gut, sending the attacker flying back into the weapons-user from before. Nodding his thanks, they both flew after the remaining member of the team.

Sasuke immediately recognized the style of taijutsu used and smirked. He relayed his idea to Orochimaru, who smirked and nodded.

Caught off-guard as their strikes suddenly increased in intensity and speed, and confused by their appearance of being everywhere at once and blocking all his attempts to use Kaiten and knock them back, Neji faltered once—and found the padded tip of a sword at his throat. Sasuke held it.

"But I thought Or—"

They were already gone.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Reviewing the tape again, Tsunade sat back and tapped her pen against her lip. It wasn't possible to see their movements even with the tape slowed as far as it would go. They were too fast. And she'd never seen such power in Orochimaru before. He'd always fought with a sort of indifference, as though nothing mattered, but here his style was almost completely different; there was a conviction behind his strikes that Sarutobi-sensei had always tried to coax out of him with promises of the Hokage title.

And it all had to do with the lithe survivor of the Uchiha clan.

_What is it you do, Sasuke,_ she thought, watching as they were met in the tower for what had to be the tenth time that hour. _How could you do in six years what Sarutobi-sensei couldn't do in thirty?_

A knock at the door brought Tsunade out of her thoughts. "Come in," she called, pausing the tape.

Neji strode in, cleaned up from the fight and wearing fresh clothes. He bowed formally. "Request permission to speak freely, Hokage-sama."

"Granted. What's on your mind, Neji?"

"You didn't tell us who we would be fighting."

"I believe the mission descriptions stated that you would be fighting Uchiha Sasuke and Orochimaru."

"They did. But that wasn't who we fought."

"I don't understand."

Neji took a deep breath, and Tsunade knew this must have been weighing on his mind for some time. "They fought like one person in two bodies. It was like nothing I've ever seen before; their chakra formed an aura around their bodies, and between them I could see little flashes of light—chakra in nature, but something _more._ And their chakra flow was…strange."

"How so?"

"I said they fought like one person in two bodies? Their chakra flow was like that as well. It was as though their systems became one and stretched; I can't explain it. The chakra circulated continuously through both of them as blood circulates through the heart; first one side, then the other. The only way to bring them down would be for a Hyuuga to fight them, and I will not."

Startled, the healer Sannin looked over at the most talented young jounin, and saw he was shaking slightly. "Why not?"

"They outrank me, Hokage-sama. And I would investigate the potential…side effects of killing one of a linked pair."

"Very well. Thank you, Neji, you may leave."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

He'd put this last task off for long enough; after a few day's rest from the Bhakti activation, Orochimaru was sent off on a mission and Sasuke decided it was time to reunite with his teammates. Pulling on a fresh set of clothing that was appropriately generic, and resettling his hitae-ate on his forehead, the Uchiha prodigy leapt out the window of the apartment and headed first to Sakura's home.

Knocking on the door, he fidgeted anxiously on the doorstep until she opened the door a crack, flinging it open and grabbing him in a flower-scented hug when she saw who it was.

"Sasuke-kun!" she squealed, looking much younger than her 18 years. "Tsunade-sama said you were back, but I didn't believe her—but she's right and now you're here and that's wonderful! Have you seen Naruto and Kakashi-sensei yet? And you'll have to meet Sai. He's a little weird but he's a nice guy." She blushed, and with a start Sasuke realized that she must be involved with Sai beyond being mere teammates. "This is wonderful—I can't believe you're really back." Sakura pinched herself. "How did you escape from Orochimaru? You slipped away during the war didn't you?"

"Actually—"

"Sakura-_chan! _Who—_Sasuke?_"

The loud, annoyingly endearing voice could only belong to one person, and turning, Sasuke saw he was right. Blond hair, green-blue eyes the color of the sea—it was Naruto, down to the last whisker mark, and knowing the three of them were reunited brought a gladness to Sasuke's heart. Smirking, just as he used to, Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "I'm home, dobe."

"Don't call me that—but you're here! This is great-ttebayo! Tsunade-baachan is going to be—"

"She knows I'm back already."

"Of course she does!" Naruto grinned as though he'd known that all along. His expression turned serious. "But how'd you escape from Orochimaru?"

Unwilling to answer that question twice, Sasuke bit his lip. "Where's Kakashi-sensei off to?"

"Where would I be but right here?" Startled, the Uchiha turned around and saw his old teacher, leaning against the wall with his nose in one of those bright orange books, looking like something out of his memory.

Suddenly Sasuke felt like he was about to cry. He hadn't realized that he'd missed the insanity of their team. Kakashi peered at him over the top of the book. "Welcome home, Sasuke. I imagine you've got some stories to tell us." He shifted hands on the book, and Sasuke caught sight of a bandaged left upper arm—the spot that one of the second team members had gotten hit in. His eyes widened.

"You were one of them," he said softly. It was not a question.

"I was."

Naruto looked between them suspiciously, and made a sound. "You're not even back five minutes and already the two of you are keeping secrets from me!" he complained loudly. "It's annoying-ttebayo! And mean!"

"Actually, Naruto, I've been back for about a week now."

"And you haven't come to see us?" Sakura said. Her voice held a note of annoyance in it.

"I've had other things to attend to," he said vaguely. "It's a long story. Let me buy you all lunch, and I'll tell you then."

So they went to a restaurant and ordered their food, sitting in a corner booth so they wouldn't be bothered by anyone but the waiter, and Sasuke told them an abridged version of the story. He watched as their faces (and Kakashi's eye) went from disbelief to anger and to suspicion.

"Sasuke," Kakashi said slowly. "Orochimaru is trying to deceive you."

"For what?" he asked. "Otogakure fell a year ago. Orochimaru has nothing to lord over, and if he did it would be easy enough to crush. We seek a way to keep him alive, because my agreement to him was for my body—but you now know that won't work. Something in my subconscious—Kabuto said it was my strength of will that blocked the transmigration jutsu. We thought this, the tri-marga, would help—but we found something else in it. Something more."

"More than immortality?" Sakura asked.

"More than human ambition. Being even in Bhakti level, the second level, is…it's like something from a dream. I watch myself move. I watch Orochimaru move. I can see every possibility, every strike as though it's occurring underwater. It's like being granted a second set of eyes."

"The use of this seal is like a religious experience?" Kakashi asked. Sasuke knew the jounin was struggling to understand this.

"I guess." He sat back, suddenly moody and unwilling to do anything else but crawl back into bed and curl up and wait for Orochimaru to return. "We don't know everything."

Naruto crammed what looked like half his plate into his mouth and chewed thoughtfully a moment. "Fink ah kah geh thif feal?" he asked. It took Sasuke a moment to translate and the idea made him think.

"It's possible," he said slowly. "Orochimaru and I don't understand it entirely ourselves. The third level and the secrets of it are explained in a scroll we're hoping to find in the vaults of the Hokage tower."

"What are we waiting for?" The other half disappeared into the jinchuuriki's mouth. "We foud go in dere an' find it."

"We need a jounin tag or a special tag from the Hokage or—"

"Sasuke, you're forgetting something," Kakashi said. "I'm a jounin."

"We'd been hoping to look for it together—dedicate some time to finding it—"

"Do you know what it'd look like?"

"Like the first one, and I have that one memorized inside and out." Sasuke felt a little indignant—this had been _his _discovery and they were talking to him as though he knew nothing.

"We can go in now. Orochimaru will find you, I'm sure."

"Yeah, Sasuke-kun! We'll help you. I don't wanna help the snake but for you I will."

"S'what friendf do."

"Naruto, _chew_ your food, don't spit it out all over the table." Sakura brushed food particles off her shirt with a disgusted look. Naruto stuck out his tongue.

"Fut uh, Fakura. M'a growin' ninja."

"That excuse won't work now that you're an adult."

"M'STILL GROWIN."

"You're spitting food again! Ugh, you're disgusting!"

"Ya know ya luff meh, Fakura."

His excitement built slowly as the three of them led the way through the great library to the vault's entrance. Sasuke knew they didn't trust Orochimaru at all, and he didn't blame them. He knew they didn't trust him because he trusted Orochimaru, and he didn't hold it against them. The circumstances surrounding Sasuke and Orochimaru were more complex than they could possibly understand.

The four of them spent the rest of the afternoon searching through first two huge shelves crammed with scrolls, all of which turned out to be early records of Konoha. Sasuke had been intrigued to find birth records of all three of the Sannin, and had quickly jumped to Orochimaru's information. All it stated in reference to his familial history was _Found at Hokage tower, age three months. Parents unknown._

Yawning, dusty and cramping from craning to look at musty old scrolls, they left the library empty-handed. Orochimaru had still not returned from his mission. Sending out a feeler along the line that connected them continually, Sasuke got a glimmer of a response—sort of a weary signal. _I'm alive and on my way home. Leave me alone,_ was what it translated to in plain speaking language, and feeling a little worried, Sasuke curled up on the couch to wait, and dropped into a fitful sleep.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Naruto, Kakashi and Sakura weren't as accepting of certain events after that," Sasuke said sardonically.

Ibiki scanned the written report, stopped, read a section again, and looked over at Sasuke with no small amount of disgust. "You 'had relations' with Orochimaru? How could you stand the scaley bastard?"

"He doesn't have scales, for one thing. And secondly, we found we needed it. Periods of no contact and distance made the seal compel us to be close together after, and we found sex to be the best way to relieve it. It wasn't because we loved each other, although in the end I think it certainly became something like it. If I knew what Orochimaru was thinking right now, I'm sure he'd be agreeing with me in my head."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

A storm had rolled in, and a lone figure leapt over the village walls to the shinobi housing near the tower. It was dark, and none of the guards raised the alarm; whether this was because of the time of night or because the figure was a streak of black and bare-white against a black sky was not important.

Slipping in through the door-window left slightly open the figure found what he sought under a blanket. Running chilled, wet fingers over the boy's cheek to wake him, the shinobi started pulling the blanket away.

Sasuke stirred, something cold and wet on top of him. A pair of lips pressed against his own, and in his sleepy haze Sasuke responded to them, pushing back, wrapping an arm around chilly, wet hair and dripping clothes. He knew who it was, knew what this would lead to, and didn't mind. Orochimaru was home safe, and he was nearby, and that was all that mattered. Reaching up, he began to undo the snaps on the jounin vest and pushed it back over wet shoulders. Orochimaru moved his arms so that the vest could slide off and drop with a wet _plop_ to the floor. Next was his shirt, and in an inexplicable need to be near to each other they paused in their fevered work, curling together, their breath mingling, before Orochimaru tugged impatiently at the bottom of Sasuke's shirt and the Uchiha shifted obligingly so that it could be pulled off.

Then he was being half-dragged, half-carried to the bedroom and lay down on the bed, and there was a flurry of kisses and hot-and-cold touches that drove him insane with need. Somewhere behind him and above him, he could feel all of the sannin's mind full of a desire to be close and affirm their bonds. For half a second it didn't make sense—they were always connected along the tri-marga and beyond that, they had the bonds of their year of wandering and the years of training besides, but then he realized it didn't matter and that they needed this. And Orochimaru had something slick on his fingers, and those fingers were inside him, filling him one at a time, and oh _gods_ it felt so good to be like this with him. Some foggy part of his mind said it was the seal, strained by the days apart during the mission, needing to renew itself. Some part said that Sasuke wanted it.

It seemed like an eternity that Orochimaru's fingers were inside him, stretching him out for something much bigger. He had long, sensitive fingers, and used them to their fullest, stretching them out and curling them back, and watching as Sasuke tensed and moaned under him. The other hand was up and down his back, caressing and touching and kneading away the tense knots that formed. Their minds were closer than ever before; thoughts, emotions, flowed from one to the other like water. Orochimaru curled his fingers and brushed something inside him, and Sasuke cried out, arching to try and get that feeling back. He felt a flicker of amusement and sent back a silent plea for more; he got it, muscles tightening around the fingers and his hold on the pillow becoming a deathgrip.

Suddenly the fingers were gone and Sasuke twisted to look behind him, demanding out loud and in his head to know what Orochimaru thought he was doing, stopping like that. His indignant protests were silenced with a kiss, gentle and calming.

"You talk too much," the sannin whispered hoarsely. "Shut up and do what your body tells you to." And he pressed himself into Sasuke, sliding easily into the younger nin's passage, and everything after that was a haze of pleasure and the smell of sex, mingled with sweat and rain from the open window. Above it all was a feeling of liberation, almost like what they felt when the seal was activated.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"So you had sex because the seal compelled you to."

Sasuke nodded, grinning at the interrogator's discomfort. "It's the only downfall of the seal; we can't be far apart for very long. Otherwise we won't be seen for a few days afterwards."

"_Days_?"

"On some of the times when we were both out on missions for days at a time, we'd become crabby and after, when we returned…" he shrugged his thin shoulders. "Orochimaru always cooked breakfast. Of course, half the time it would burn because we'd have sex in the kitchen, too."

"Why does the seal need to have its bearers—"

"We decided it was due to increased usage of it. The seal makes us act as one, and when something is divided its natural tendency is to want to become whole again. Like water flowing around a rock."

Ibiki leaned back. "And this was routine for you?"

"Perfectly normal routine. I was not under a compulsion jutsu. But it was around this time that I started having my dreams—the ones I told you about. The same dream, over and over again. It would only come as we slept together afterwards; it was never terrifying, just confusing, and I always woke from it with a feeling like there was something I needed to do."

"You said they didn't disrupt your everyday routine, these dreams."

"They didn't. I still don't know what I'm supposed to do…we were working on the meaning of parts of the second scroll, when…" He trailed off, and his expression grew grim.

"When it all came crashing down."


	6. Chapter 5

Illusion

Chapter 5

* * *

A/N: Sorry I took so long to get this out. But it's done now!

* * *

_On this path no effort is wasted,_

_No gain is ever reversed;_

_Even a little of this practice_

_Will shelter you from great sorrow._

_-Chatper 2, verse 40_

_

* * *

_Konoha: Three Weeks Prior to Capture

* * *

Sasuke dodged, manipulating their chakra into a barrier at the precise moment and angle to send the shuriken aimed for him back at their attacker. Orochimaru took the point position, attacking with both hands turned into writhing snakes, and the nin finally fell under their onslaught. 

_Two down, _Sasuke thought, _One to go._

_Stop chattering, boy. Here comes the last._

Shooting upward with a boost of chakra, they flipped over in mid-air and kicked off, turning their chakra into something like a magnet's poles and rocketing in separate directions, off the walls of the training arena, and towards their foe. Orochimaru was being dramatic, and Sasuke scowled.

_He's moving through water. No need to be flashy._

_No need not to._

Their hits connected in a burst of bright light—they thought. A powerful Kaiten tore them backwards again but they regrouped.

_It's a waste of chakra to do that, and it got us nowhere. Told you so._

_Shut up. _Orochimaru's mental voice had grown stronger over the time they'd been using it, and it carried a snappy edge right now. Shooting a look at his partner, Sasuke pulled the sword from its sheath on his back and darted forward with Orochimaru's snakes clearing the way for him. This last one was especially tenacious and had created bunshins to distract them—the Kaiten indicated that he or she was a Hyuuga of some level, probably a jounin at least, and—

Suddenly, Orochimaru was gone. Frantic, Sasuke looked around, saw Orochimaru come around in front of him but couldn't feel the older man in his head, and panicked. Their whole fighting strategy centered on their ability to communicate freely along the lines of the tri-marga, and without that communication, they couldn't coordinate their attacks and change without lots of trouble. And then he noticed that the tri-marga was retracting, their chakra disentangling and flowing back their bodies.

He saw that this strange development affected Orochimaru as well; he was scowling and as he retracted the snakes and his arms reformed, his hand-to-hand timing was off. And even though Sasuke recognized the move and performed it running purely on memory, he knew his timing was wrong, too. The Hyuuga fell, but as he did, the sannin and his partner looked at each other and frowned.

From the walls of the arena, Tsunade clapped her hands. "Well done. That would be a mission accomplished for both of you." She looked between them, fighting back a devil's grin at their identical confused expressions. "Is something the matter?"

"The seal, it—"

"—retracted," Orochimaru finished. "And we didn't trigger it." Again a look passed between them.

Tsunade shrugged. "You two are the experts, not me. Why don't you go home now? You have a mission tomorrow, don't you, Sasuke? Go rest, and recover your strength."

Without a word, Orochimaru and Sasuke departed, leaping above the crowded marketplace streets near the shinobi training complex to their apartment. It was disconcerting, not being able to communicate as they'd been able to up to this point. Usually after Tsunade called them in for a demonstration they would pick their performance with the tri-marga apart, finding weak points in their strategies and then spending more hours in the practice rooms, fixing them. But now, even though they couldn't communicate, Sasuke knew what was running through Orochimaru's head.

_What in the hell was that?_

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Tsunade looked down at the masked Hyuuga on the sandy floor of the arena. "So what do you think, Hyuuga Hiashi?"

The head of the Hyuuga clan pulled off his mask, breathing hard. Their speed even just at Karma level had been overwhelming, and he'd been hard-pressed to find an opening when they'd progressed to Bhakti. "It's not like anything I've ever seen…but as all things, it has a weakness."

"The chakra paths that run between the two of them—you severed them, then?"

"It took all Jyuuken's formidable strength to do so. But I'm sure you noted the change in their movements, as did I. They were less fluid and less synchronized. Break those chakra paths, and they're nothing more than what they are by themselves."

Tsunade nodded. "Thank you, Hiashi-san."

* * *

Ibiki had fallen silent at this point. "So that's its weakness." 

Sasuke nodded. "And the reason for putting us in the special chakra-blocking cells, and continually draining us of whatever chakra built back up, I'm sure. Without chakra, we can't activate the tri-marga. Or restore it. You were in formed of that, though." His tone was rueful.

"And Jnana level—"

"We haven't been able to activate it. Every time we came close in practice, we couldn't boost it enough. Even without being in the heat of battle. I guess our chakra reserves just aren't high enough, even with a clan-nin and a sannin paired. I don't know what the teams ANBU started testing on can do. I've never seen them in action."

"From all accounts, this first level—Karma level, you called it—is all they've been able to manage."

"Perhaps having the curse seal helped."

"I doubt the Hokage would allow Orochimaru to traipse about ANBU's ranks, merrily marking whoever he thought could survive."

"I doubt he'd want to."

Ibiki shrugged. "In any case, we're getting down to the wire. Tell me about the night of the attack. I've got information on that you might like to hear."

Sasuke had perked up at this, and eagerly sipped at his water before continuing on.

* * *

Konoha: The Day of Capture

* * *

The sun hit him full in the face every morning around eight, except when Orochimaru got up early and closed the blinds. So this morning, Sasuke's body woke him up around an hour late, and as soon as he'd come out of his dreamy haze and realized what time it was he scrambled for his clothes. Of course, he'd just gotten back from his mission last night and in the thrall of the tri-marga he'd scattered them to every corner of the room, so it took far longer than it should have. Every two minutes he looked over at the clock and scowled. It wouldn't do to be late today. 

Running out into the main living area, Sasuke grabbed his gear and fastened it on as he skittered into the kitchen. Orochimaru smiled vaguely at him over a plate of toast, dressed in his jounin clothes and hair tied up from his morning run. "Sleepy today, Sasuke?"

"Shut it," the Uchiha snapped, shoving the toast into his mouth as he taped up his thigh and buckled the holster onto it. Stomping into his sandals, he threw open the window and crouched on the sill a moment.

"Don't be late tonight, Sasuke," Orochimaru called after him. "Even if you are nominated to take the chuunin exam!"

Sasuke nearly fell off the sill. "How did you know?!" he yelled back into the apartment.

_Kakashi told me._

Making an audible and mental sound of disgust, Sasuke bolted with the ripple of his partner's amusement in his head. He was going to be late, he knew it—

"Oi, Sasuke! Trying to turn into Kakashi-sensei, eh?"

Panting, Sasuke sat on the grassy knoll. "Hi, Naruto."

"Snake bastard didn't wake you up on time?"

Sasuke shot Naruto a look, and the blond grinned back at him.

_/Orochimaru's breathing was heavy in his ear, and Sasuke arched his back upward, trying desperately to get the older man to stop teasing him and be serious about this for once. Even as that thought floated up hazily he cried out as Orochimaru angled his thrusts over Sasuke's prostate—atfuckinglast, he thought, before burying his face in the pillows and giving in to—_

"_Oi, bastard! Everything okay? I keep—"_

_Naruto's voice became a kind of strangled screech as he unashamedly and without warning wandered into the bedroom. They'd already yanked the covers up and Orochimaru had scooted away over the bed, leaving Sasuke achingly unfinished. In that moment, if Naruto had been any other shinobi, the Uchiha heir thought he would very well have struck Naruto dead. As it was, the look of utter horror on his friend's face was enough._

_Moving his lips without speaking, at last Naruto fled. The seal-thrall momentarily assuaged, Sasuke had curled up around his throbbing crotch and tried not to scream./_

It had taken some weeks before Naruto could look at Sasuke, but after that had finished, Naruto had come up to Sasuke and very seriously sworn himself to secrecy about having ever seen anything at all.

"Quiet, you two," Sakura said wearily. The boys had made a solemn vow to never tell her; despite that she'd moved on to other men, she still harbored an affection for Sasuke that randomly manifested itself, and if she knew they feared what she'd do to herself, or them. Sakura had grown mightily strong under Tsunade, and not just in the healing arts.

Lounging around on the grass like this was something he'd missed in Sound and the subsequent years of wandering. Listening to Naruto yell about what he'd do to their chronically late teacher, and Sakura tell him off for yelling—it was almost like normal.

_Not really._

Sasuke scowled. _Don't you have someone to terrorize today?_

_Not until later. I'd rather terrorize you anyway._

_You are unbearably weird._

_You're stuck with me—it was your idea to take the seal, after all. That aside, Sasuke…be careful._

The young man's scowl turned into a frown. Years of living on the edge of being caught had only sharpened Orochimaru's paranoia, but not all of that was unfounded. The man had an uncanny way of being able to sense things; if Sasuke didn't know better he'd call it clairvoyance.

_What are you thinking?_

_I don't know…just watch._

"Hey, Sasuke! Whatcha thinkin'—_oi, Kakashi-sensei!_ You're late!"

"I was beset by a herd of—"

They groaned in unison. "Let's just go," Sasuke muttered. Orochimaru's mood was transferring to him, making him jittery; he'd need to work off this adrenaline or he'd be worse than useless if something did happen. Kakashi debriefed them on their mission and then set them to training, sparring against each in turn. Even without being part of a fighting pair, Sasuke was still strong and gave Kakashi a lot of trouble, and when they both bowed out they were breathing hard and covered in sweat.

The training had gone most of the day, as it usually did, and Sasuke moved through his usual routine. He stopped by the market and picked up food for dinner, then leapt back along the rooftops and climbed in the windowsill. Orochimaru was off somewhere, so Sasuke got dinner started. He wasn't the same kind of cook that his partner was, but he could cook and make it edible at least, and often they were both so tired from their day that they'd wordlessly eat and then go to sleep.

He was setting dinner out when Orochimaru got back, and gave the other a rare smile, got one in return, and sat. Orochimaru looked exhausted; probing along the recently-regenerated lines of the tri-marga, he felt the other's chakra-exhaustion and absently pushed a little of his own in. The sannin looked up from his food, and Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"You're chakra-sick and tired," he said. "Unless you'd rather I do nothing?"

Orochimaru shook his head and continued eating silently. Sasuke's chakra was cool water running over every chakra point in his body; he shivered pleasurably and when he'd had enough, looked up again. The flow ceased.

They cleaned up together and after about an hour more of studying the second scroll and bouncing ideas off each other as to why they weren't able to activate the last level, they went to bed.

* * *

Sasuke awoke to something in his head, like an insistent mental poking. Shifting under the covers, he turned over and nestled closer and shrugged it off. 

_Sasuke. Wake up but don't open your eyes._

A heady wave of fear came with his full consciousness, but he kept his eyes closed and his body relaxed.

_What's going on, Orochimaru?_

_Intruders. Four of them. Two are ANBU._

_Why?_

_I don't know._

Sasuke felt Orochimaru's arm shift; one stayed securely over his shoulders, but the other was going for a store of senbon needles he kept there. As he did, Sasuke could feel the chakra of the intruders getting closer along the spiraled hallway. They were wary; no doubt they'd felt the spike in his chakra upon waking up, although the pervading power of Orochimaru's hopefully masked it out. To his horror, he recognized some of them.

_Shikamaru…that ANBU who was with Naruto and Sakura…one more I don't recognize._

Suddenly they were in the room and Orochimaru had flung the needles at the unknown ANBU, striking him in shoulder and neck. He fell over, gurgling blood, and the sannin had shoved Sasuke behind him on the bed and gone into a crouch, leaping forward to attack the artist-nin. Sasuke scrabbled for his thigh holster on the nightstand, rolled off the bed to dodge a kunai, and snatched it up. Snapping it open he flung handsful of shuriken at Shikamaru.

_Outside!_

Boosting his chakra to his feet, Sasuke followed the blur of movement that was his fighting partner and they crashed through the nearest window they could, leaping out into the wide street under their apartment.

Orochimaru stood. His exposed chest shone with sweat under the moonlight, the same light that caught all the blue highlights in Sasuke's hair as he landed and rolled, the same light that illuminated Shikamaru leaping out the window as well as the ring of ANBU that appeared out of the shadows.

Pushing through the seal, they activated Karma level and let their combined chakra roil around them. Some, they saw, were intimidated but most looked to Shikamaru, who sighed.

"Man, I don't wanna hafta do this," he muttered. But his hand fell forward in the gesture that meant_ attack.

* * *

_

"That night, Uchiha Sasuke and Orochimaru killed eight ANBU and wounded Nara Shikamaru, using the power they had allegedly given to the village. They also used a previously unseen power, what they called the 'Jnana' level."

* * *

Sasuke sat calmly in his cell, meditating. 

_A Hyuuga came at them, flat, open palms giving her away. In the middle of blocking another attack, Sasuke turned an instant too late._

_He felt the bonds beginning to break.

* * *

_

"Sasuke," Ibiki said. "It was a conspiracy, launched by the councilors with the approval of the Hokage. The village, with the exception of your teammates, did not want you here, and they certainly didn't want Orochimaru here. They clamored to cast you out, but Tsunade knew that she couldn't just turn you two out after taking you in. She still cares for Orochimaru as an old friend; and she cares for you as a Konoha citizen. 

"But she knew that if she did not, they could supplant her and put someone less suitable in her place. She did what she had to do, Sasuke."

* * *

In his cell, bound in the dark, Orochimaru closed his eyes. 

_Their bonds had been broken, and they fought together but alone at the same time. ANBU surrounded them; they'd only managed to kill two, the bodies cooling at their feet. Sasuke was drenched in the blood of one; he'd cut the jugular and hot liquid had spurted over him. Orochimaru felt out his partner's chakra and they tried to coordinate, but the ANBU attacked them from all sides at that moment and he lost his focus._

_Suddenly, Sasuke exploded into his head. He was there, more intimately than anything they'd known from the seal, more than when they were in thrall of the tri-marga and each other's bodies. Slowly, his vision faded into the ghostly shimmering of the Sharingan; he could see the genjutsu hiding more ANBU in the shadows; he could see his own body glowing with it._

_Sasuke saw the world from Orochimaru's side as well; it was like having a full circular view of the world around him. He felt the blood rushing through Orochimaru's veins and the chakra pulsing through his skin as if they belonged to him. In turn, Orochimaru felt Sasuke's will beating behind his own heart. From that point on, they knew everything the other knew._

_They had reached Jnana level.

* * *

_

"It wasn't safe to have you in the village anymore. Not to the villagers—so they all thought—and not to Tsunade's position. Would you rather some militaristic captain get it rather than her?"

* * *

"Based on the evidence given, would the accused like to say anything before the council passes judgement?" 

_C'mon, bastard, _Naruto thought, gripping the railing hard. Sasuke looked like a statue, perfect and gleaming in the prisoner's dock. Unmoving, and unmoved.

Sakura's grip on his arm tightened. Sasuke had raised his head.

* * *

Sasuke ground his teeth together, glaring at Ibiki. "Why weren't we told? If everyone know we were innocent, that we only defended ourselves, why—" 

"It's for the good of the village, Sasuke."

* * *

"You hypocrites," Sasuke drawled. His eyes were blue-black, snapping with anger as he glared at the councilors and then at the kages seated above them. "You goddamned hypocritical bastards. You say you do this to preserve what it is to be a shinobi. You say you do this for the good of the village." 

In the crowd, Ibiki sighed.

"You know why you do this?" Sasuke continued. "You do this because you know that this world is what you want to preserve. Shinobi are art pieces, things to put away in museums and galleries and on shelves and walls. They're trained to be showy; there's no honor in it anymore. Shinobi have become corrupt. This—" he shoved his sleeve up, showing the gleaming black seal on his forearm "—this is what we were meant to be. We are meant to become a team, all of us. And you seek to keep us separate, keep us showpieces. For _years_, I believed your lies. But my eyes have been opened."

There was a moment of stunned silence. Then through the silence, Tsunade's voice was calm, quelling the whispers that swept through the huge room.

"We will now pass judgment," she said. "Starting on the left – councilors, please?"

Sasuke smirked. He understood what it was that he had to do.

Looking at the seal, he calmed himself and stared defiantly up at the councilors.

"Death."

The second councilor raised his hand. "Death."

The third: "Death."

The council passed a unanimous vote of death. Tsunade's voice had a little tremble in it this time. "Kages, if you please. I will go last."

The Mizukage raised his hand. "Death."

The Tsuchikage: "Death."

The Raikage: "Death."

The Kazekage – Naruto looked up at Gaara helplessly. Their eyes met across the room, but even Gaara had fallen prey to the ways of the world.

"Death."

Tsunade gave one long, hard look at Uchiha Sasuke, looking up at her with ocean eyes that were not glazed with anger or clouded with revenge.

"Death."

The room was silent, shocked. Two ANBU appeared to stand on either side of the dock. Sasuke looked haughtily at both of them. Naruto bit back tears. At last, when he knew he was leaving them for good, he regained his old self.

"Uchiha Sasuke, you are sentenced to death, to be carried out tomorrow at dawn."

Standing up, Sasuke walked out of the room and left Konoha forever.

* * *

"Do you see now what you are supposed to do?" Orochimaru had asked him in his dream. Why his guide had taken the shape of his lover, Sasuke didn't know, but it was a shape he was familiar and comfortable with, and he supposed that had something to do with it. 

Looking out over the garden that seemed bathed in light now, Sasuke sipped his tea and smiled. It was the tea his mother had always made them. Well, this was a dream world, so anything was possible.

"I understand," he said.

* * *

The next day dawned cold, but people bundled up in the predawn half-light and filed out to the killing grounds. Sasuke was standing in a simple yukata, freshly scrubbed lest he leave a dirty corpse to burn. 

Sasuke's transgressions were read once more, and he was led to the block of wood in the center of the ring. Inside it were the kages, the councilors, and his old teammates. Sakura wept in Kakashi's arms. Naruto's face was unreadable.

They paused as the sun's rays came up over the hills surrounding Konoha. And then the sword was raised, and the ANBU wearing the executioner's mask set himself, and brought it down.

Nobody anticipated what happened next.

The sword sank into Sasuke's neck—and then he vanished, leaving behind only clouds of white smoke.

* * *

Sasuke watched the whole thing from the crown of a tree. He watched his clone disappear, and smirked, flexing his fingers. All his jutsus had had more power since they'd been able to go to Jnana level; that clone had lasted days. 

"Thanks, Tsunade," he muttered, seeing her gather order amidst the uproar. She knew she'd probably lose her position in this, but she'd been willing to take that risk.

_You did something to him that none of us could,_ she'd told Sasuke. _I was wrong to do what I have. But there is only one way to change it now._

_Sasuke. Are you coming? We have to get moving now._

Leaping down from the trees, Sasuke felt the ripple of power and on that, curiosity and annoyance. "We've got time."

"Not enough. Let's go before they send out ANBU."

Leaping through the trees, they set out west.

* * *

Some Months Later…

* * *

"Tsunade. A package for you." 

The aging sannin took it from the courier, paid him, and examined it curiously while walking back to her house in Mist. Nobody knew she was here, nobody knew where she'd gone after the incident…nobody but them.

_Sasuke looked up from his cot. "Tsunade-sama," he said, almost mockingly. "Come to interrogate me more? Did what you saw from behind that two-way mirror not satisfy you?"_

"_Be quiet before I change my mind," she snapped as she deactivated the seals on his wrists and undid the bindings. "Leave a clone here and come with me."_

_Swiftly he complied, feet padding quietly as she wound through the halls of cells. Unbolting a particularly thick one, she gave Sasuke a Look. "Stay here."_

_He tried to peer into the darkness, feeling a familiar tickle and excitement building in his chest; and when Tsunade led Orochimaru out, a strip of cloth over his eyes so the sudden light wouldn't damage them, she let Sasuke step up and embrace him, calm energy roiling in him. Awkwardly and slowly, Orochimaru let his arms settle over his partner._

"_It's been a while, Sasuke," he muttered._

_Tsunade gave them some of her personal apartments to stay in, letting them regain their strength and reattach the bonds of the seal that had been broken the night of the attack and had been kept in that state through lack of chakra to rebuild them. When she gave them the number of the place she intended to stay in Mist and watched them walk away in the night before the execution was to take place, she could almost see those links of chakra and thought._

They had walked out of Konoha, and she had not seen them since. And now she recognized Orochimaru's neat handwriting on the brown paper that the package was wrapped in. There was no return address.

Opening the package on her table, she pulled out a bit of folded…something. It was unlike any material she'd felt before, smooth and firm. A slip of paper fell out between the two folded halves and she retrieved it off the floor, seeing Sasuke's scrawl now.

_1. Flip it open when it rings._

Suddenly, the device emitted a shrill ring, and Tsunade dropped it on the table. It sprang open and stopped ringing, and gingerly, she picked it up.

_2. Put the holes above the screen to your ear, and the holes below the buttons to your mouth._

She did so.

_Hello, Tsunade._

"Sasuke? But how?"

_This thing's called a telephone. When we're done, you're going to need to press the 'End' button, it'll be red. Then I suggest you toss it somewhere far away within the hour. It'll blow up. Shinobi aren't supposed to have this kind of thing yet._

"I don't understand—"

_Don't worry, neither do we. We've come back to where we found the tri-marga, a land of steel and concrete. You wouldn't like it here. I'm jittery, to be honest, but it's a far cry from being dead._

"You are together?"

There was a deep conviction in Sasuke's voice now, and Tsunade got the impression he was looking at Orochimaru. _Nothing could separate us now._

"Good. Should I…should I expect any more communication from you?"

_Every now and then. Maybe. This world has much to offer us._

"I imagine. Sasuke, Orochimaru…take care."

_Don't we always, Tsunade?_

"Will you ever return?"

A low laugh. _That's a choice we leave to you._

The sound cut out, and after she pushed the 'End' button, a counter ticking down from sixty minutes appeared on the screen. Taking up her coat, Tsunade put the phone in her pocket and went out for a walk in the woods. She threw the phone off a cliff, and watched it burst into a flower of destruction.

* * *

Sasuke hung up his own phone, and slipped it into a pocket of his coat. 

"Nice line at the end there," Orochimaru remarked, taking another bite of his lunch. "Been rehearsing that?"

"A little. Did it feel rushed to you?"

"Not at all."

"Where do we go now, Orochimaru?"

The sannin shrugged, and fascinated, Sasuke watched. The strange clothes accentuated his body in all the right places, the ripples of muscle. The tri-marga would be bared, if he hadn't been wearing the coat.

"There's a place I hear of, north of here," Sasuke pressed.

"North it is, then." Orochimaru offered his hand. Sasuke took it, and together they walked away.


End file.
